Wildest Dreams
by wolfe80
Summary: Never in her wildest dreams did Veronica expect this to be Logan's life four years after she left Neptune at the end of her freshman year of college.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N – Given I haven't had as much time to do new chapters of Dangerous Curves Ahead and Lightning Rod for Trouble, I thought I would slowly start sharing another story I started writing. I guess with all the angst and drama in those I wanted something a little lighter to work on when I wanted to write and didn't want it to be so intense. So the plan for this one is to be a much lighter tone than the others I've done. I was going to wait until I wrapped up Dangerous to share it, but I know it's nice to have new stuff to read so decided to post this between gaps in the other two. **_

_**I'm expecting the chapters here to be much shorter too, although I seem to end up with longer chapters the longer I write a story, so that might happen here too later. For now they are pretty short though. I'm also posting Chapter 1 &amp; 2 together since they are short and Chapter 2 is the one I like better than Chapter 1 (You'll quickly get why). I suppose they could have just been one chapter, but left them as two.**_

_**I'm also thinking I may have some unusual pairings in this story versus others, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Of course there will be LoVe too. And my plan is for it to be all Veronica's POV this time.**_

_**Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think about the premise of the story once you read Chapter 2. I've been having fun working on it when I need a break from the angst of the other two. **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 1

Veronica paid the barista and reached out to take the caramel latte and blueberry scone from the bubbly blonde at the drive thru window. She set the drink into her cup holder and headed south along the 101. She knew it might be faster to drive from San Francisco to Neptune if she headed east to the I5, but she hated that drive and opted to stay more along the coast for as much of the drive as possible even if it added more than an extra hour. Because really when the drive was that long, what was a little bit longer?

She started out the drive wondering how many times she'd made it since she transferred to Stanford for her sophomore year of college. She figured it had to be almost a half dozen times, though she much preferred to fly. This week though, given her state of mind and what was going on in her life, she opted for the drive. After graduating from Stanford she'd taken a job with the San Francisco Police Department. With her college degree in criminology she'd been assigned to a division that specialized in fraud cases. While she enjoyed it, she missed the variety of cases that she'd experienced when she was doing PI work. She couldn't help but think back to her dad's own career with the Sheriff's Office and how in a smaller department like that, you got pulled into all sorts of different things and not stuck in specialized units.

This line of thought naturally led her to thinking about the various reasons for her current trip south. She'd taken the week off from work to drive down and spend her birthday with her dad. Even though she saw him at least a couple times a year, it didn't seem like quite enough since they'd been so close before she'd gone away to college in Palo Alto. She also missed seeing Wallace and Mac. She'd seen them a few times over the last four years, but not as often as she would have liked either. So of course spending time with her dad and her friends was the primary reason she'd given to everyone for her trip. Her more secretive reason was to talk to Leo D'Amato. He had taken over as Sheriff of Neptune after Vinnie Van Lowe was kicked out of office shortly after winning the election her freshman year at Hearst. Leo had worked with the San Diego Police department to expose all the corruption that was happening at the Sheriff's office which led to the removal of Vinnie as well as quite a few of his corrupt deputies too. She knew that Leo had been building a new team under him, but it was still Neptune and it seemed that good deputies were hard to keep around. She'd noticed frequent postings of openings for the department when she had occasionally looked. She wanted to talk to him about getting hired as a detective working for him so she could move back to Neptune. She was hoping he'd seriously consider it given her year at the SFPD and her degree from Stanford. She'd actually spent the prior week packing up any personal items that she had at her apartment so if she did decide to stay she could just sublet the apartment without having to drive all the way back. She found she didn't actually have a lot of personal items other than clothes and photos so the processes didn't actually take very long. And not surprisingly, everything fit into her Saturn as well. She hadn't officially given notice at work, but if she did decide to stay she wanted to make it as easy and quick as possible. She was hoping Leo would be happy to have her and that she'd be able to start quickly if he agreed. And those were the only reasons she was willing to entertain as to why she wanted to move back to Neptune.

Of course almost nine hours alone in a car gave her way too much time for her mind to wander to other things she missed about Neptune. She tried to push one specific person out of her mind but after about her sixth hour on the road and at least 10 attempts to not think about him, she completely failed. She decided it wasn't really that horrible to admit that she may have missed Logan too. She had tried to see him when she first came back from her internship with the FBI in Virginia and found out that she'd received a very generous scholarship to Stanford, but he'd ended up going to Mexico with Dick for a last minute surfing trip before school started and she had to leave for Palo Alto before he got back. Before she left she decided she would write him a letter, thinking at the time it seemed more personal than a text and she didn't want to have the conversation over the phone. In hindsight she should have gone with the text. Of course she'd been the girl who had laughed at those idiots who tried to take their high school romances with them to college, and then later realized she wasn't any different than any of those other idiots. She'd tried to be considerate in the letter to Logan, explaining how it was normal for that sort of thing to just not work because they never really did for anyone. She said that she wished him all the best… have a happy life and all that crap… and that maybe someday they could figure out how to be friends again… but at the time she thought it was best if they tried to stay out of each other's lives for a while. She's still not sure what possessed her to write that stupid letter. At least in a text she would have been much briefer. _'Going to Stanford. TTYL'_... yeah that would have been better.

Mac had let her know a few weeks after they started the term that Logan wasn't at Hearst anymore. Mac didn't know at the time what he was doing and Veronica decided for her sanity and her ability to be successful at Stanford that she couldn't let herself obsess about it. She asked Mac if she could make sure he wasn't in any actual trouble but if he wasn't it was probably better for them to stay out of each other's lives for a while, like she'd said in her letter. She certainly didn't want another Piz incident to happen. Mac had told her a few weeks later he was fine and had just decided to do something different with his life. That was enough for her and Mac seemed to sense that she couldn't really handle knowing more if she wanted to move on with her own life and have a chance at something normal at Stanford. _But who was I kidding, normal was boring as hell._ _Didn't I learn that lesson before?_ So yes, she missed him too, but she hadn't actively looked into what he was doing. A part of her was afraid that he'd found someone else and settled down and then she'd have to admit they were actually over forever, so she decided the unknown was better. Maybe now though she was finally at the point of facing reality and finding out what he'd done with his life during the last four years she'd been gone. She wasn't even sure if he was still in Neptune, but she figured someone there might know where he was and what he was doing.

She spent the next part of the drive thinking about her plans for the next few days. Her dad had called her the prior morning and let her know that he had a lead on a bail jumper that had been spotted in Arizona and she convinced him to take the case and she'd still drive down as planned. So she woke up early that morning and headed off to Neptune. She'd been able to reach Mac and Wallace, and they were both able to clear their Saturday evening schedules to have dinner with her when she finally made it in to town. That left her the next day to hopefully spend with her Dad if he made it home late Saturday night or early Sunday and then Monday morning she'd go in and talk to Leo. Her other objective of seeing what Logan had done with his life didn't really have a specific spot in her plan yet, since she still wasn't sure how ready she was for the reality of that situation. She doubted he'd been pining over her all these years, because she certainly hadn't been pining over him, although he always seemed to be there in the back of her mind. She had vehemently tried to deny that to herself though, but every guy she'd agree to go out with, she constantly found herself comparing them to him. But no, she certainly wasn't pining over him.

This would only be the second time she'd been down to Neptune to her dad's new house. He'd finally decided a few years prior that chasing down bail jumpers was getting a bit harder the older he got and decided to give Weevil Navarro another shot working with him. For the most part Keith took on the cases that needed more finesse, and Weevil took on the brunt force type of cases. Although Weevil had actually gotten a better handle on his temper, so they ended up working really well together and he let Weevil take on some of the other surveillance cases too. Between the two of them, they actually were able to take on even more cases than he could when it was just him and Veronica, and he finally felt stable enough financially to finally move out of their old apartment and buy a small house. It was still in the 02 zip code, but it was in a nicer area than the apartment had been, and several blocks from the ocean. It was a small two bedroom craftsman bungalow type house with a small yard that Backup thoroughly enjoyed. He'd given her a key the last time she'd been down, just in case of an emergency, so she was all set to get settled in even though he was still in Arizona.

She was thrilled that traffic wasn't bad and that she made it to her dad's house in time for a quick nap and a shower before Wallace and Mac came to get her for dinner. And if anyone asked, she absolutely did not dream about Logan during that nap.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 2

Unfortunately a downside of 9 hours alone in a car and letting her mind wander to things she normally tried to avoid meant she had some dreams that weren't the normal variety. Veronica knew as soon as she had crashed on the bed in her dad's guest room, with those thoughts of Logan still on her mind that she was probably in for trouble. Although whether it was good trouble or bad trouble was debatable. She dreamt about nights in his hotel room, in his car, on the beach. She also thought she'd set her phone to wake her up after an hour, but either the overly vivid dreams made her just not hear it, or she actually hadn't set it correctly. Regardless of which it was, she was awoken in the middle of one very explicit dream of a night they'd snuck down to the beach by the doorbell ringing.

_Damn it!_ She stumbled to the door, realizing it was much later than she expected, to a very happy-to-see-her duo of friends. "Wallace! Mac!"

They both enthusiastically said hello and came in the house, giving her a big hug at the same time.

Wallace was the first to give her a scolding look. "Did you seriously just wake up or something?" He shook his head in a playful way.

Veronica gave them both a sheepish grin, "Yeah, my alarm didn't work. Just let me change into something a little nicer and fix my hair."

"Don't take forever, V," Wallace yelled as she began to retreat down the hall. "I'm famished! You don't want to have to explain to your dad why I died in his living room do ya?"

Veronica glanced over her shoulder to stick her tongue out at Wallace and saw Mac shake her head and roll her eyes at him. "You're fine Veronica. We're not in a huge rush and they'll hold the reservation for a while."

Twenty minutes later they were selecting their seats at the restaurant Mac had chosen for them. It was a newer restaurant that had a great selection of vegan offerings, as well as some great Italian dishes and even some steak and seafood. They'd been making small talk for most of the time so far, with Veronica telling them about working and living in San Francisco. The other two shared what they had been up to since she last saw them, which was also mostly just working.

Mac had graduated from Hearst and gone to work for a new start-up technology company that was in direct competition with Kane Software in a number of markets. Veronica had been excited to hear that the company Mac was working for was actually beating them in several of those markets. Wallace had gotten a job working for an engineering firm that had offices along the west coast. He ended up having to travel a bit for work, but seemed to be enjoying it since they subcontracted with lots of different types of companies to provide engineering services.

They'd ordered their meals and were enjoying a round of drinks when Veronica finally decided to bring up her idea of moving back. "So…" she started off a bit hesitantly. "I was thinking I might actually move back to Neptune."

"Seriously?" Mac said first, almost with an excited squeal in her tone. "That would be fantastic!"

"Yeah, V. It would be great to have you back here, but what are you thinking of doing for work?" Wallace seemed a bit more reluctant to jump on the excited train until he heard more about her plans.

"Well…." Veronica drew the word out for a bit before she continued. Wallace had taken another drink of his beer as she was delaying her answer. "I'm thinking of getting a job at the Sheriff's Department."

Veronica was glad that she was seated across from Mac and not from Wallace as the mouthful of beer he'd just taken mostly sprayed out all over in front of him. Veronica gave him a 'what the hell was that about' look and then looked over at Mac who seemed unusually nervous.

"Won't that be a bit _awkward_ with your _ex-boyfriend_ being a deputy there?" Wallace finally asked after wiping his mouth off.

Veronica gave him a look that clearly communicated she thought he was being ridiculous or an idiot, or just a ridiculous idiot. "First, Leo and I barely even dated. We only went out a couple of times. And he's _actually_ the Sheriff now and not a deputy anymore. I also thought I heard he was engaged or married or something, not that it really matters anyway."

Wallace gave Mac a disbelieving look and his voice came out slightly louder. "You _never_ told her?"

Veronica looked between the two of them and when neither said another word she finally spoke in a slightly annoyed voice. "Told me what?"

Mac looked at her and then at Wallace and back to Veronica, "Well we don't usually talk about Leo's fiancé because it's a sore subject for Wallace."

Wallace looked at Mac with an even more shocked look. "Really Mackenzie? That's what you're going with?"

Mac gave him a slightly apologetic look and leaned toward Veronica, "Leo's fiancé is Jane."

Veronica sat back in her chair with a surprised look on her face. "Wallace's Jane?" She asked in almost a whisper, as if trying to not let Wallace hear her, though he clearly could. Mac nodded and Wallace blew out a frustrated breath.

"Seriously!" Wallace yelled, causing a few tables near them to stop talking and stare at them.

Mac shrugged and gave him an innocent look. Wallace shook his head in frustration and finally just blurted out what Mac didn't seem to want to tell Veronica. "Logan's a deputy there Veronica."

"Wait, what?" Veronica replied, completely confused by the words Wallace had just said.

"_Logan Echolls_ is a _deputy_ with the _Neptune Sheriff's Department_," Wallace repeated in a slower voice, emphasizing the key words to make sure she understood this time.

Veronica looked at him for a moment with her mouth open, then at Mac who sheepishly nodded at her before she looked back at Wallace again.

"Logan Echolls?" She asked still not quite believing she heard him right. "The _Logan Echolls_ that I used to date? That Logan Echolls works for the Neptune Sheriff's Department? He's a _deputy_?"

"Yes," Wallace replied with an exasperated tone.

_Well I guess that answers part of the 'what has Logan been doing with himself' question. Although now there's a bigger 'why the hell' question to be answered._ Veronica sat quietly for a few minutes trying to process what she'd just learned.

"Soooo…" Wallace finally continued, breaking the silence. "Don't you think that might be a little _awkward_?"

Veronica shrugged and tried to seem nonchalant. "We're both mature adults now. I'm sure we could work at the same place and it wouldn't be an issue."

Wallace's eyes about bugged out of his head and Mac just gave her a small smile. "I'm sure you're right Veronica. It will be perfectly fine," Mac said supportively while Wallace just shook his head with a disbelieving look on his face.

The topics of moving back, the sheriff's department and Logan were completely avoided throughout the rest of their dinner and drive home. When she finally crawled into bed to go to sleep, she'd been trying to actually picture Logan as a deputy. _Bad idea Veronica, now you know what kind of dreams you're sure to have. _Logan in uniform, sometimes the tear-away kind, and usually with handcuffs somehow made it into several of the dreams she had that night.

_**A/N – While you're down here by the comment box, be kind and drop me a quick note to let me know what you think of it so far! I've realized that I like writing about Logan in different occupations (mayor, race car driver, and now deputy). I loved this one because he'll have more seniority at the department than she will, so can't wait for all the fun that's going to lead to!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N – Thanks for all the positive feedback on the first two chapters. Sorry there's no Logan in this chapter yet, but he'll be in the next one. I've always felt uncomfortable writing Keith because I can't quite do the snappy dialog that they shared on the show. Their relationship was just so unique. I've shied away from writing much of him in my other stories because of that. Hopefully I'll be able to work him into this one a bit more. **_

_**For those of you on AO3, I did make a cover page for the story on FF that you can see on my tumblr page if you'd like. image/109649263852**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 3

Veronica woke up to the comforting smell of bacon and coffee. She'd gotten a text from her dad the night before that he'd be home by morning. She groggily climbed out of bed and stumbled down the short hallway to find her dad finishing up some pancakes too.

"Ah, bacon! It's so good to be home," Veronica said with a sly grin as she walked over and gave her dad a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning sweetheart," Keith said with a smile. "Don't expect this all week, missy. Consider this an early birthday present."

"Well as long as you're finally getting me a pony, I'll be happy. I figured now that you have a backyard, my pony would be a done deal."

"Ha!" Keith replied as he shook his head.

Veronica poured the coffee for them as Keith finished up the food and they took their plates to the small table on the side of the kitchen.

"I still can't believe I get the pleasure of having you for a full week," Keith commented after swallowing a bite of his maple syrup and butter covered pancakes.

Veronica decided to just throw her idea out there since she hadn't mentioned it to him yet. _Perfect opening_. "How would you like the pleasure of my company on a more permanent basis?"

Keith's eyebrows shot up in a questioningly expression.

"I'm thinking about moving back home," Veronica continued as his expression became a bit more judgmental.

"Ah yes, what every parent lives to hear from their 22 year old offspring." Keith replied sarcastically.

"Hey, I'll be 23 in a few days."

Keith shook his head, "that doesn't make it better my dear daughter." He gave her a skeptical look. "What about your job? Isn't a _9 hour commute_ a bit extreme?" He said trying to seem serious.

"Yeah... About that," she replied as he sighed and braced himself for whatever came next. "I want to talk to Leo about joining the sheriff's department."

Keith let out another disapproving sigh that she was all too familiar with. "Not that I wouldn't love to see you more often, but I thought you liked San Francisco and your job."

"I did at first, but not so much now." She replied with a grim expression on her face.

He took another deep breath like he needed to break some bad news to her.

"I already know about Logan, so you don't need to mention that."

"Oh, well good. So then there's that." He replied with his questioning expression firmly in place.

She let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm sure we, well at least I, can be a mature professional adult about it." She hesitated and gave him a critical look. "Why didn't you ever mention he was a deputy."

Keith laughed. "The last thing I ever wanted to bring up in a conversation with you was the guy who broke your heart numerous times." _I broke his a few times too._ "You never mentioned him, so neither did I."

She nodded in understanding. "Is he a good deputy?" she asked cautiously. She knew that her dad had helped Leo rebuild the department when Leo became acting sheriff.

"Leo wouldn't have kept him if he wasn't," her dad replied with a knowing look.

She nodded and took another bite of her breakfast.

"Are you really sure about this honey?" Keith asked with a concerned look on his face. "It's still Neptune. Don't you want something bigger, more exciting?"

"Come on dad, we both know plenty of exciting things happen in Neptune."

He let out a very audible sigh. "But you'd have to be a deputy. It's a sheriff's department. They don't really have detectives like police departments do."

She shrugged. She hoped with her experience and degree that she'd be able to do something more than just be a rookie deputy and get to work on the more challenging cases, but she still needed to talk to Leo. "Are you trying to say I wouldn't look good in those lovely khaki polyester uniforms?" She asked in a faux hurt tone.

Keith laughed and shook his head. "Hey if they were good enough for me then they should be good enough for you. I still have my old one. I'd be happy to let you borrow it." He gave her a smirk as she rolled her eyes at him.

She had already hoped she might be able to convince Leo to let her wear regular clothes instead of the hideous brown polyester uniforms.

"You know San Diego isn't that far and maybe a job at the SDPD would be more up your alley." Keith suggested.

Veronica shrugged again. She'd thought about that too, but there hadn't been any good openings the last time she checked. "I'll see what Leo has to say and then think about it." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I thought you'd be more excited that your only daughter wants to come back home and follow in your footsteps."

"I just don't want you to do something you'll regret." He said with a grim expression. "Not to mention how bad my parenting cred is going to fall if you move back in. Oh, and you know I have this whole swinging bachelor thing going too. You'll totally cramp my style."

Veronica laughed and shook her head. She knew her dad and Alicia Fennel had started dating again almost a year ago and that he wasn't as much of a bachelor as he may claim to be.

"Oh come on, you know I'm just trying to stake my claim before you marry Alicia and one of the boys tries to snag this house."

Keith laughed. "Well Darrell is a pretty crafty 11 year old."

"See, I knew it!" She said victoriously.

"And speaking of the Fennel clan, they'd like to have us over for dinner tonight if you're game."

She gave him a loving smile and nodded. It was nice to see him happy again.

Shortly after breakfast, Weevil stopped by to drop off Backup. He'd started taking him when Keith had to go out of town on cases.

"V!" He gave her a warm smile and a big hug. "Your dad said you were coming this week, but I thought maybe it was just another one of his senior moments." He said with a smirk as Keith shot him a glare.

"You forget where you park the car one time and he never let's you live it down," Keith said with a tone of exasperation.

"We weren't even in the right parking garage," Weevil replied as he shook his head. "And I told you, but you insisted you were right."

Veronica laughed at the two of them while she'd bent down to give Backup some much overdue attention. He wagged his tail and licked her face several times as she hugged him, then scratched him in all his favorite spots.

Weevil asked how her job was going, and she gave him a quick answer not really wanting to get into the whole sheriff's idea with him too. She didn't need another person telling her that it was a bad idea, although she did catch her dad giving her a strange look.

Weevil didn't stay long since he needed to take his grandmother to church. She told him to tell her hello as he was headed back out the door. Keith had a few case things to take care of and then they decided to take Backup to the beach for a while before they had to go to dinner at Alicia's.

Veronica hadn't seen Darrell since she'd gone away to Stanford. She couldn't believe how much he'd grown in 4 years. Alicia of course was exactly as she remembered her and it was nice to see that her dad had been able to reconnect with her and get past whatever problems they'd had in the past. Wallace had moved into his own place but still came over for family dinners, which seemed to be a pretty routine Sunday evening ritual from what Veronica could tell.

Veronica was in the kitchen helping Alicia finish up some off the food when Alicia inquired about her plans. "So Wallace said you might be moving back?"

Veronica nodded and gave her a small smile. "Apparently to mixed reviews on my plan though."

"You know they just love you though and want you to be happy." Alicia replied with a warm expression on her face.

Veronica gave her a mischievous smile, "I don't know. I still haven't gotten that pony yet."

Alicia laughed. "Well Darrell's wanted a pet lemur since he saw Madagascar, so I guess you're both just completely unloved children."

Veronica laughed. "We should start our own club." Alicia gave her a knowing smile. "Well I'm glad you want to come back home. Despite what your dad might say, he's really missed you."

Wallace bounded in to the kitchen a few seconds later. "Smells delicious as always, ma," he said as he leaned toward her and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'm famished."

Veronica laughed at him. "You've become quite the eating machine while I was away." She looked playfully at his stomach and raised her eyebrows. He'd obviously filled in quite a bit more from his lean high school athletic frame.

"Hey now!" he protested and shook his head. "I'm still fit as a fiddle." He patted his stomach and sucked in a deep breath making his stomach flatter.

"Mm hmm," she replied a little skeptically and gave him a smirk. "Yep… I can see that fiddle shape coming along nicely…"

"Hey!" he said again "The ladies love me. I get compliments all the time about this excellent physique." He waggled his eyebrows at her. "I'm exactly like a well tuned instrument."

Veronica laughed thinking how easy it was to rile Wallace up. She put her hands up in surrender. "Okay, I believe you. You're phone was ringing off the hook during dinner last night with all those ladies trying to get them some Wallace."

He shook his head in frustration, of course knowing his phone didn't ring once at dinner the night before. "Hey, maybe I just turned it off so I wouldn't be interrupted when I was hanging with my BFF."

She smiled playfully and nodded. "Ah, and that's why the ladies love you. Always so considerate."

"Exactly," he replied and smiled a bit more triumphantly.

Veronica heard Alicia laugh and saw her shake her head slightly. "Okay you two," she said in her best motherly voice. "You can start taking dishes out to the table instead of squabbling like toddlers." They stuck their tongues out at each other and then each grabbed one of the bowls that Alicia had prepared and headed out to the dining room arguing about which one was carrying the heaviest bowl.

Once they were all settled in at the dining room table enjoying the delicious meal Alicia had prepared the conversation easily flowed around the table. They spent most of the time listening to Wallace explain the latest assignment that he was working on and then Darrell telling them all about his project for the science fair. Wallace gave him some advice on how to make the project even better and promised to stop by a few nights that week to help him finish it up. Even her dad had a few suggestions for Darrell's project and asked him how he did on his last spelling test. As Veronica sat around listening to them all talk she realized how great moving back and feeling like part of a family again would actually be.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N – Finally a Logan part! I was originally going to split this into two chapters, but I figured the limited amount of Logan would not have been popular, so just made it into one longer one. I'm guessing this story is going to have a lot of variation in lengths of chapters. I'm actually a bit nervous to get feedback on Logan in this story, but definitely be honest and let me know what you think! If people seem really interested in it, I will probably work on it faster, but if the response is low, then it will probably happen slower. Thanks!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 4

Veronica was surprised at how nervous she was as she drove over to the Sheriff's station. She wasn't expecting to feel like she had butterflies in her stomach, which only got worse the closer she got to the station. _Logan may not even be there, so chill out already._ She hadn't asked any personal information about him yet to any of her friends or her dad, so for all she knew he could be settled down and married. _A respectable husband with a respectable job._ Not exactly what she had envisioned when she had wondered what he was currently doing.

She parked her car in the visitors parking area and braced herself for a moment before finally opening the door and climbing out. She couldn't remember any other time she had felt like this, other than maybe two specific nights that she'd gone to Logan's hotel room at the grand. The first one being a complete disaster right after Alterna-prom and the other being completely the opposite when they'd gotten back together before their final break up at Hearst. _You're not even here to see him, so get over it already and go inside._ She took a deep breath and marched toward the building.

It felt so strange walking up those steps after all the years she'd been gone, although not that much had changed in those four years either. As she opened the door to the station, she immediately heard an all too familiar laugh, and in an all too familiar way. _Logan's flirty laugh._ She quickly scanned the station and her breath caught for a moment seeing him again after all those years. He looked a bit older, a bit slimmer and more in shape than he had before. _Guess he kept going to weight lifting classes somewhere even after he left Hearst._ He was sitting at a desk with his side toward her, talking to a young woman sitting across the desk from him. The woman had curly shoulder length hair and a frilly low cut blouse on. Veronica would have guessed she was likely a college student at Hearst based on her demeanor and age. Whatever he'd said before she walked into the station apparently made the woman laugh too. Their voices weren't loud enough to pick up the entire conversation, but from what she could hear it sounded like the young woman was filing a report for stolen merchandise.

"I want to make sure I've got your name and number right," Logan said in his most charming voice with a little wink, turning the paper in front of him so that the young woman sat up slightly in her chair to lean toward him and look over what he'd written down. She looked up at him and gave him a flirty smile and nodded, her curly brown hair bouncing around her shoulders and her cleavage proudly on display.

"Do you think she's trying to steal the keys to the evidence locker?" Another familiar voice whispered into Veronica's ear.

She laughed and shook her head, "Well if she shows up with pizza later, you'd better keep an eye on her."

She turned to see Leo giving her a friendly smile. "Hey Veronica, it's so good to see you." Leo's voice was a bit louder now, and carried throughout the open space of the room. Leo gestured toward his office, which led them toward where Logan and the young woman were sitting.

Logan's lips quirked up into a half smile and he nodded as they walked by. She didn't think he looked as surprised to see her as she would have been if she hadn't been forewarned that he was working there, so she figured that someone had tipped him off that she would be stopping by. She guessed that most likely Leo had mentioned it since he would have known some of their past history.

Leo gestured to a chair in front of his desk as he closed the door behind him. "So you're serious about wanting to talk to me about a job?" he asked as he walked over and took a seat behind his desk. He narrowed his eyes slightly and gave her a skeptical look.

Veronica nodded. "I'd really like to move back to Neptune, to be closer to my dad. What better place to work than the Neptune Sheriff's Department," she replied with a mischievous smile.

"I can think of lots of places," he said with a slight laugh to his tone. "Seriously though Veronica, are you sure you really want to be a Deputy here. Maybe you'd be happier getting a job at the SDPD, it's not that far from Neptune. The job options there would be vaster than I could offer you here."

Veronica smiled at him, "Is that the sales pitch you use on all prospective candidates, because if it is, I guess I understand now why there are always so many openings down here."

Leo laughed and shook his head. "I'm just surprised that you'd want to do this I guess. When you contacted me last week, I did make a quick call and talked with your superior officer. He said you had a lot of promise and I think the Sheriff's department might not really be your best move. I have some friends at the SDPD and may be able to get you a better position there."

"Well I haven't seen any job openings there that seemed to fit what I wanted to do. How about I give the Sheriff's department a go for a while and see how it works for both of us." She paused for a minute and gave him a serious look, "Unless you have so many candidates knocking down your door for the constant open stream of positions I've seen posted that you'd rather hire one of them."

Leo let out a deep sigh, "Not surprisingly, after the rep Neptune has gotten over the years, I don't have a lot of eager to sign on deputies."

Veronica smiled and nodded. "Yeah, didn't think so."

"Sure you're not going to have any issues with your co-workers?" Leo asked with a smug grin on his face.

"Come on Leo, you're not really that hard to deal with." She replied back with a feisty smirk. He rolled his eyes and shook his head and then gave her an expression that clearly said he wasn't who he was talking about. "I'm sure the two of us are mature adults now and it will be fine," she replied given the expression on his face. "Well at least I'm a mature adult now. I guess I can't speak for him."

"You know you'll have to be a deputy. We don't have any special detective jobs here."

She nodded, "Well I was hoping with my experience and education you wouldn't give me all the rookie type assignments at least though."

Leo nodded. "I'm sure we can figure something equitable out around that. How long would you need to wrap things up in the Bay Area?"

"Well I need to officially put in my notice, but I do have another week of vacation time due to me and all my cases were closed before I left, so I don't think I'd really need to physically go back. I brought all my personal items with me and talked with my apartment manager about subletting my apartment if I don't make it back up. So technically I could probably start tomorrow if you wanted me to."

Leo shook his head again and smirked at her. "Eager for a change I see."

Veronica nodded and smiled at him. "So… are you offering me a job?"

Leo blew out a loud breath, "Why do I have a feeling I'm going to regret this?" She gave him an innocent look and shrugged. "I still need to clear it by the city personnel department, but I could probably let you know by tomorrow." He tapped his finger on his desk for a moment. "You're really sure this is what you want to do Veronica?" He still looked like he didn't quite think it was a good idea.

"I do. At least I want to try it for a while."

"Why don't I at least put a word in for you with my friends at the SDPD. If they don't have anything open currently, they can at least keep you in mind for when something comes up later."

"You know you won't really want me to leave once I'm here though," she replied with a coy smile on her face.

"I guess I should double check that Echoll's is still okay with this." Leo practically grumbled to himself. _Still?_ He pressed the intercom button on his phone and Veronica heard a 'yeah' from Logan through the speaker. "Can you come in here for a minute?" Leo asked into the speaker.

_Last chance Veronica, if the flutter that just ran through your stomach at the sound of him saying 'yeah' is any indication, you're getting yourself into something you probably shouldn't._

"You beckoned?" Logan said as he opened the door and leaned against the frame looking in at Leo. Of course seeing him standing there in his uniform was not going to do any good for the dreams she'd already been having. She couldn't help but notice as he rested his left hand on the door frame that there at least wasn't a wedding ring on it.

"You're sure you won't have any issues working with Veronica?" Leo asked with a judgmental expression on his face.

Logan looked at her and gave her one of his '_kissing ass_' faces that she hadn't seen in years. "Of course, how could working with the delightful Veronica Mars be any trouble at all," he replied in a heavily sarcastic tone. Leo blew out a frustrated breath and Logan turned back to him with a more serious look. "Seriously Leo, it'll be fine. I'm sure we're both mature enough for it not to be a problem."

"It better not be," Leo said in a warning tone. "And I know you were suppose to get paired up with the next new deputy, but there's no way in hell I'm going to tempt fate that much, so I'm putting you with Devlin and Veronica with Clayton."

"You know Norris had a thing for her in high school," Logan said in a teasing tone as he waggled his eyebrows. Veronica didn't realize Norris Clayton was also a deputy there and wondered how many other surprises she'd be in for. Leo scowled at Logan who just lifted his hands in a defeated gesture. "Anything else _Sheriff_?" Logan asked in a bit more of a smart assed tone than she was expecting.

"I still need to run it by personnel, so until I get their approval it's not official, but you can let Devlin and Clayton know that we'll probably be making that change." Leo replied.

Logan nodded and gave Veronica a fake hat tip, and turned and closed the door behind him again.

"You're really sure you want to deal with that all the time?" Leo asked with a raised eyebrow.

She squished up her face, "That's nothing. We'll be fine."

Leo looked intently at her. "Just between you and me, he's my best deputy, so don't do anything to make him want to leave. Got it?" Veronica was surprised to hear that and didn't quite know how to respond, but nodded in reply. "You may decide the job isn't really what you want to do and I don't want him to be collateral damage." He paused for a moment before he continued. "I don't think we have any uniforms that are small enough for you and it will be a few months before I can afford to order new ones, so I guess you'll have to wear whatever you wore as a detective in San Francisco."

She smiled and snapped her fingers in a disappointed gesture. "Darn it. I was really looking forward to some of that brown polyester too."

He narrowed his eyes at her again. "I said a few months Veronica. Not forever."

She gave him one of her little head tilts, "I'm sure you can find better things to spend your budget on right?" She at least got a small laugh and head shake out of him.

"I'll call you when I hear back from the personnel department and get it approved." He stood up and reached out his hand for her. "Welcome back to Neptune, Veronica."

She smiled and shook his hand. "It's good to be back, Leo. Thanks."

He nodded and let out another loud sigh. "Okay, I've got work to do now, so you should skedaddle. Tell your dad I said hi."

She nodded and stood up from his desk, giving him a little wave as she opened the door and headed back out to the main room.

Logan was leaning against his desk and gave her a smug look as she came out of Leo's office. "Well this is certainly going to be a new experience isn't it." He waggled his eyebrows at her. "You know I'll have seniority over you right… can't wait to boss _you_ around for a change."

Veronica rolled her eyes and shook her head. Norris and another guy she didn't know, but was about the same age as they were walked over. The other guy was about the same height as Logan and Norris, with ginger hair and a fair amount of freckles. He smiled as they walked over and he had some of the biggest dimples she'd ever seen.

"Welcome home, Veronica," Norris said with a shy smile. "Sounds like we may get to be partners."

Veronica smiled and nodded. "Thanks, sounds that way."

"I'm Doug," the guy she didn't know said reaching out his hand to shake hers. "Doug Devlin."

Logan slapped him on the shoulder, "Yeah, Double D. His parents must have known what sort of woman he'd be attracted to when they named him." He made a quick glance at Veronica's chest before back up to her face with a smirk on his lips. _I see a bit of asshole Logan has certainly come back._ She shot him an annoyed glare. _Well Veronica the bitch can still play along if he wants it that way._ Before she had a chance to say anything Doug was punching him in the shoulder.

"Fuck off Echolls, just because Bex is being a bitch to you, doesn't mean you need to be an ass to us." Doug's voice was a bit on the loud side and carried quite well across the mostly empty room.

"Devlin!" Leo's voice came booming out of his office. Doug gave Logan an annoyed look and flipped him off as he walked over to Leo's open door. Veronica couldn't hear what Leo said, but heard Doug apologize before he walked back over still giving Logan a dirty look.

"Speak of the Devil," Norris said, as the other two men turned to look in the same direction that he was facing.

"…wearing Prada," Doug whispered under his breath, but Veronica still heard him.

Veronica also turned to see that a slender tall blonde woman had just come into the station. She was dressed in very expensive designer clothing and was removing a pair of large sunglasses with her perfectly manicured nails as she came in. She smiled at the three deputies and made her way over to them, stopping closest to Logan.

Norris and Doug each said a quick hello, while Logan looked at her a bit suspiciously. "No hello?" she asked an accent that sounded British.

"Hell-lo?" Logan said in a less than friendly voice. The woman shot a look at Veronica and then back at Logan.

"Aren't you going to introduce me? Or is she a perp?" She asked with a flippant tone.

"Veronica Mars, this is Bex Hartley." Logan said introducing the two women. His tone still seemed a bit on the hostile side. Veronica gave her a small smile.

"Your girlfriend…" Bex added, giving Logan a slightly chastising look.

"Oh, well I wasn't quite sure if that title still applied today," he replied back, still with an annoyed tone, as he crossed his arms in front of him. "Typically when you tell someone to go fuck themselves and then don't answer the phone when they call back, that usually means you've broken up… _again_."

"It was just a little misunderstanding, don't be such a drama queen," she replied leaning up and kissing him on the lips. "Are we still on for dinner tonight?"

Logan let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head. "Ummm... noooo… did you not just hear me?" His voice had gone from annoyed to slightly angry now. "I cancelled the reservation because you wouldn't pick up the damn phone Bex. I thought you said you had to go to a photo shoot in LA today anyway."

She gave him a small pout and shook her head. "No, they postponed it until tomorrow, so I was going to stay in town one more day." She put one of her hands on his chest and leaned in closer. "I'm sure if you call back, they'll give you a new reservation. Just remind them that you're Logan Echolls and if they don't give you a new reservation then they can kiss your ass and you won't be dining there ever again."

Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I already told Devlin and Norris that I would go play pool with them tonight at Callahan's."

Bex laughed and shook her head. "Really Logan? You'd choose playing pool with them over spending the evening with me?"

Veronica had been trying not to overtly watch their interaction, although it was a little hard since they were standing right in front of her. She noticed though at the last comment that both Doug and Norris had started moving back to their respective desks and out of the immediate area. Veronica felt even more out of place standing there on her own.

"Look Bex, I've got some work to do. I'll just call you later okay?" Logan replied as he turned away and went to sit at his desk again.

"Fine, but don't make me wait." She leaned down and kissed him on the lips again after he'd sat down. "You know how much I hate to wait."

She turned away from the desk and gave Veronica a quick smile. "Nice to meet you… Victoria?"

Veronica shook her head. "No, it's Veronica."

"Close enough," Bex said as she headed for the door.

Norris gave Veronica an apologetic look, although she wasn't sure why he felt like he would need to apologize.

"Hey Veronica," Doug said as he stood back up from his desk and headed back over by her. _Ah the danger has passed and it's safe to come out of their hiding places again apparently._ "You should come to Callahan's with us tonight. We always have a pool competition with the fire fighters on Monday nights." He shot a quick glance at Logan. "I'm sure Echolls will bail on us as usual, because he'd rather tap his hot model girlfriend than hang out with us losers."

Logan narrowed his eyes at Doug for a second. "You realize you just called yourself a loser, right?" he asked with a look of disbelief on his face.

Doug just shrugged and turned his attention back to Veronica. He smiled even more, making his dimples even more noticeable. "So what do you say, Veronica?"

"Down Sparky," Logan said in a warning tone. "You know Leo's rules about dating co-workers right?"

Doug turned and gave him a confused look. Logan laughed and shook his head, "Dude, don't you remember what happened with Deputies Thomas and Burger?" Doug shook his head. "Well obviously they aren't here anymore because they broke the rule. Right Norris?" Doug and Veronica both turned to look at Norris who just smiled and nodded.

"Fuck Echolls, I was just trying to be nice and get to know her. You don't have to be such an ass all the time."

Veronica shot Logan a suspicious glare and shook her head slightly at him. _$100 says he just made up Thomas and Burger, but I'm not sure why Norris went along with it._ "I'd love to come," Veronica said in reply to Doug's question. Logan made a muffled chuckling sound, causing her to turn and give him a glare. _What are we 12 again?_ She turned back to Doug. "What time should I be there?

"We'll be there around 7," Doug said with a cautious smile. He glared at Logan, "Don't you need to re-make your reservation?"

Logan laughed and shook his head. "Only if I'd actually remembered I even had a fucking reservation for tonight and cancelled it in the first place. Man that restaurant must hate me. I wonder how many times we've gotten into a fight and I've forgotten to cancel."

Veronica heard Norris laugh and turned to see him shaking his head. "How many days end in y?" He asked under his breath, though loud enough they could all hear him.

"Ha ha ha," Logan deadpanned. "Such a comedian Norris. Don't quit your day job."

Norris lifted up his hand and flipped Logan off. _What the hell was I thinking? This is going to be as bad as being back in high school isn't it?_

Several phones went off at the same time. Logan and Norris both reached for their desk phones at the same time, both saying 'Neptune Sheriff's Department' also at the same time. Norris made an annoyed face and hung his phone up while Logan kept talking on his. He was writing down some information, and then hung up the phone.

"Come on Sparky," he said to Doug as he stood up and grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. "Domestic disturbance call. And Norris, don't forget to update the score."

"Bye Veronica," Doug said in an almost moony voice as he walked past her following Logan toward the door.

"Yeah, '_bye Veronica_'" Logan repeated, mimicking Doug.

Veronica shook her head and gave him a little glare as he smirked and turned back toward the door. As the door closed behind them, she gave Norris a questioning look. "Score?"

Norris chuckled and picked up a clipboard from the edge of his desk. There were several names on it, with check marks. Logan's and Norris's had the most. He shrugged before he answered. "It gets sort of boring sometimes and we try to beat each other to answer the phone. We have a part time receptionist, but sometimes it's just a few of us deputies here and we started keeping track of who was the fastest to answer the calls. The winner can decide if they want to take the call or make one of the others take it."

"So Logan likes taking domestic disturbance calls, or was he just trying to avoid me?" Veronica asked curiously.

Norris shrugged again and studied her for a moment. "He uh…" he made an uncertain face before he continued. "He usually wants to be sure there aren't any kids being impacted by the… uh…situation."

"Oh," Veronica replied glancing at the door that the other two deputies had just left through. _That actually makes a lot of sense given his own past._ "Well I guess I'll see you tonight then." She gave him a small smile and then headed back out to her car.

When she finally made it into the car, she let out a long deep breath. _Well at least he's not married, Veronica… I'm sure you'll have no trouble competing against a gorgeous British model._ She shook her head and started the car. She'd told her dad before she left in the morning that she'd bring him lunch and help with some filing at his office. She decided that sounded way better than wallowing around thinking about Logan and his hot model girlfriend.


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback so far! I thought I'd clarify my "lighter" story comment since a few people did mention it. I meant this would be less damaged characters and hopefully more banter between them than the other stories I've been doing. Of course it's still LoVe so there's still bound to be some strife, but I don't intend for this one to get as angsty as the others. This chapter's a bit on the shorter side again, sorry about that.**_

_**Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 5

Veronica had to Google where Callahan's was because it wasn't there when she'd last lived in Neptune. They even had their own website and touted themselves as the best brew pub in Neptune. She chortled to herself as she pondered whether the River Stix had their own website now too. _Best bar to get stabbed in._

Spending the day catching up on filing for her dad wasn't really the best way to keep her mind off Logan and _Bex_. Like she expected him to just drop everything and fall at her feet and beg her to take him back. _Of course he'd have some hot girlfriend. He was always good looking and had no trouble charming women when he wanted to. _She tried to remind herself that maybe they would be better off just trying to be friends anyway. She missed having him in her life even if it was just as a friend. They'd spent so much time together growing up and most of those good times were as friends anyway, back before Lilly died.

While she didn't expect to see him at Callahan's because Doug was right, who would choose playing pool with them to spending the evening with _Bex_, she still wore something nice and spent a little bit of extra time on her hair and make up. She certainly didn't want to get into a relationship with any of the other deputies… _though you know you'd make an exception for Logan_… but it was nice to have some attention every once in a while. _Plus... firefighters… hopefully they are young hunky firefighters, and not the guys my dad had been friends with back when I was little._ _If Logan's going to be dating a hot model, I might as well find myself a hunky firefighter. _Veronica shook her head as she took another look in the mirror. _What the hell is wrong with you? It's not a competition on who can have the hottest significant other, Veronica._

She also didn't want to go solo to the bar, so after eating lunch with her dad, she had given Mac a call and begged her to go with her. Mac was a bit reluctant, but after enough pleading and a little bribery, she finally agreed. Veronica may also have played the '_but it's my birthday tomorrow_' card as well. Mac volunteered to drive, since she didn't plan on drinking much because, while Veronica was still waiting for an official job offer, Mac did have a job and had to be there by 9am the following morning.

On the drive over to the bar, Mac asked how her visit to the Sheriff's Office went. "Was it a bit awkward seeing Logan after all that time?"

"Yeah, maybe a little," Veronica answered a bit hesitantly. "And his girlfriend, Bex… she's _delightful_."

"Oh yeah… I've met her a couple times... I'm honestly a little surprised she's still his girlfriend. I thought I'd heard that they split up." Mac responded thoughtfully.

"It sounds like it may be a recurring event," Veronica said a little bit disgruntled with the entire situation. _Obviously one of Logan's weaknesses, though when you were the one he was on and off with you didn't mind it so much._

"Oh…" Mac replied, apparently not quite sure how to reply to that. Luckily they pulled into the bar at that point and she must have decided to drop the subject all together.

It was about 7:30 when they arrived. Veronica had decided that casually late was better than seeming overly eager and early. She immediately spotted Norris back by some pool tables and pulled Mac over toward him.

"Veronica!" He said with a smile as she walked over. "I thought maybe you'd changed your mind." He smiled at Mac, and Veronica could have sworn she saw a little blush cross his cheeks. "Hey Mac, good to see you too."

She turned and looked suspiciously at Mac and watched her expression as she returned his greeting. Mac seemed happy to see him, but she couldn't quite tell if it was more than just a casual greeting or not. After their quick hello, she noticed Doug was actually bent over the pool table taking a shot, facing her direction. He gave her a big dimpled smile and a wink when he saw her and then made his shot. The guy he was with groaned and shook his head. Doug took one more shot, winning that game and walked back over to Veronica, Mac and Norris.

"Hey Veronica! I'm glad you decided to join us. Can I buy you a beer or something?" He had the most hopeful puppy dog expression and Veronica just couldn't help herself. _Those dimples are just too much to resist_.

"Sure, a beer would be great. Hey do you know Mac?" Veronica asked introducing the two of them.

"Yeah of course, we've met at the station before." He gave Mac a friendly smile. "I didn't realize you two knew each other. Would you like a drink too, Mac?"

He handed the cue stick to Norris and headed to the bar after getting the orders from the two women. The guy he'd been playing pool with came over and reached out his hand to Veronica. He was tall and blonde, with eyes that were even bluer than her own. He was evidently in very good shape and quite handsome as well. He was easily a couple inches taller than Norris and Logan.

"Hi, I'm Brandon." The guy said as she shook his hand. "I work over at the fire station. You must be the new deputy?"

Veronica smiled as she pulled her hand away after shaking his. "Well technically not yet. It's Veronica and this is my friend Mac." _So many friendly handsome men with badges in Neptune these days._

Brandon smiled and nodded at Mac. "Yeah, we've met before." Mac gave him a smile and nodded as well. _So many friendly handsome badged men and Mac seems to know them all._ She gave Mac a suspicious look and Mac just gave her an innocent smile in return.

Another guy walked over to the small group and Brandon introduced him as Derrick, another one of the firemen. At least Derrick didn't seem to know Mac, which made Veronica feel a little less like the odd one out.

Norris and Derrick played the next round while the others watched from a high top table that was located near the pool table. While they watched the other guys play, Brandon shared a bit of his life story with them. He'd grown up outside of Seattle before moving to Southern California during high school. He'd played football and was good enough to get a scholarship to play for a small college similar to Hearst. He somehow ended up working as a volunteer fireman while he was there and decided after a year of college that he wanted to be a full-time fireman instead and got hired to work in Neptune. Doug would occasionally interrupt and either compare or contrast himself to Brandon, which ever would make him look better for the particular topic they were discussing. At least it was in a subtle way, but Veronica pretty quickly picked up on it. Veronica did her best to look interested in what Brandon was saying and most of the time she was, but found her mind wandering to Logan way more than it should have. _Focus on the hunky fireman, Veronica. Logan's probably off having a great night with Bex, so enjoy getting attention from what seems to be a really great guy._

Derrick ended up winning against Norris, so then Doug and Derrick played to break the tie between the two groups.

"So you do this every Monday night?" Veronica asked Norris as they were watching the other two play and starting on another round of drinks. Brandon had insisted on getting her a beer this time, which she didn't object to at all.

Norris nodded, "Yeah… usually. Sometimes there are more people though and we use a couple of the tables." He gave her a little smirk. "Just wait for Thursday nights, that's bowling league night." Mac practically choked on her club soda as Norris finished his sentence.

Norris gave Mac a little shoulder check, "Hey, don't laugh. The Sheriff's department rocks at bowling. We've been undefeated against them the last 4 months." Mac laughed even harder and shook her head.

Doug ended up beating Derrick and they decided that was enough of their _'challenge'_ for the night. Brandon asked Veronica and Mac if they wanted to team up with two of the guys and they'd play a round of doubles. Mac gave Veronica an uncertain look and shrugged.

"Sure why not," Veronica replied with a smile. "But I haven't played for a long time, so I'm really not very good."

"No worries," Brandon quickly replied. "I'm a pretty good teacher." Veronica caught Mac rolling her eyes, but it didn't seem like any of the guys noticed other than maybe Norris, who hadn't seemed to take his eyes off Mac most of the night. Veronica did catch Doug making a slightly disappointed look out of the corner of her eye, but he didn't say anything about it.

"What do you say Mac?" Norris asked with a hopeful expression on his face, "Want to partner up with me?"

Mac gave him a shy smile and nodded. Doug and Derrick decided they'd go and play darts over on the opposite wall while the four of them were playing pool. Doug gave Veronica a big smile before he crossed the room and wished her luck.

Brandon pulled a coin out of his jeans and let Veronica call heads or tails. She called it right, so Norris went over to rack up the balls. Brandon insisted that Veronica could start and he helped her line up her first shot. She saw Mac roll her eyes slightly as Brandon leaned over Veronica's tiny frame and pointed to where she should aim. Mac was actually quite good, so it seemed that Norris was a little disappointed that she didn't ask for much shot advice, but they would still stand close together and would comment on shots that Brandon and Veronica were taking. As they continued to play, Brandon would frequently stand behind Veronica and lean in to whisper in her ear which shot she should take next and would lean in to correct her aim sometimes too. He would also give her little side hugs when she made a good shot and put his hands on both her shoulders when they were watching the other two take shots so he could lean in to whisper something about their shots in her ear. It was actually nice to have a little boost to her ego after seeing Logan and Bex together earlier that day.

Veronica had just made a shot, but then missed her next one and handed the cue stick off to Brandon so she could go back over and take another drink of her beer. She'd sort of lost track of how many beers she'd had, and was feeling slightly tipsy. Norris made one shot, then missed his next, so Brandon was up again. She sat on the bar stool watching Brandon lean over for a particularly hard to reach shot with his back toward her.

"Pretty nice ass," a familiar voice whispered in her ear. She quirked her eyebrow and turned to see Logan standing next to her with a smirk on his face.

She narrowed her eyes and gave him a devious grin. "You'd be the expert at judging asses wouldn't you?"

He smiled and nodded. "Well I was always fond of the one sitting on that barstool there," he said with a wink as he pointed to her stool.

She kept her eyes narrowed at him and then quirked her eyebrow again. "Are you calling me an ass?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "You know what I mean."

She shook her head too and looked down at the ground for a minute before looking back up at him. _Is he actually trying to flirt with me now?_ "Thought you had a date tonight?" She asked in a curious tone.

"I did, she has an early morning photo shoot in LA though, so we um… finished up a bit early and I thought I'd swing by to see how my boys were faring at pool. I see you roped Mac into joining you." He narrowed his eyes at her. "I also don't recall you being so bad at pool yourself. You aren't trying to hustle poor Fire Marshall Bill over there are you?"

"It's Brandon, not Bill," She said as she rolled her eyes and took another sip of her beer. "And I was a bit rusty. I didn't play much the last few years."

"Mm hmm," he replied a bit skeptically as he narrowed his eyes at her.

Brandon called out that it was her turn, and she asked if he could just take the shot for her. He smiled and nodded and went back to the table.

Logan gave her a serious look for the first time since she'd seen him again. "You going to be okay with this? Really? The two of us working together?"

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" She asked trying to read his expression. _He went from flirty to serious in a blink of an eye._

He shrugged and looked down at the table for a moment before looking back at her. "I don't know. You were the one who bolted before, so I wasn't sure if you were ready to be around me again, let alone work together."

"That was a long time ago and I didn't exactly just bolt without a good reason. I had a great opportunity to go to Stanford. I'm sure we can be friends now, right?" She said it with a hopeful expression on her face. _Who are you kidding Veronica, you want to be more than just friends again._

He smiled and nodded, "Yeah, we can be friends." He reached out his hand for her to shake his. She smiled and reached out and placed her hand in his. She tried to ignore the spark of electricity that shot through her body at touching him again. Brandon had touched her several times that night and none of that compared to the sensation she felt touching Logan again.

"I'm going to go over and check on Sparky." He gave her a half smile and leaned in a little closer so he could whisper in her ear. "If I don't see you tomorrow, have a happy birthday, Veronica."

She turned and tried not to look surprised that he remembered when her birthday was, but she doubted she was all that successful. He frequently could read her like an open book, other than when she really tried hard to keep her walls up. She'd had too many beers for that to be a possibility at all at that point. "Thanks, Logan," she replied in a soft voice with a small smile on her lips.

He nodded and reached over to squeeze her shoulder. "And welcome back too. It's really nice to see you again." And with that he headed over to where Doug and Derrick were playing darts without another glance back at her.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback so far! I forgot to mention in my last update that the wonderful UngluckLiebhaber kindly pointed out I put Neptune Sheriff's Department, instead of Balboa County. I'll be sure to use the other going forward and will eventually try to fix the older chapters. I really do appreciate when people notice little things like that!**_

_**Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! Good, bad, meh? **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 6

Veronica woke up the following morning with a bit of a headache from drinking more the prior night than she was used to. She rolled over onto her back and covered her head with her arms, thinking back briefly to the prior night. By the time the foursome had finished up their pool game and headed over to the dart boards, Logan had already left. She actually thought it was a little strange that he only stayed for such a short amount of time. She also sort of hated how disappointed she was at that fact. She had enjoyed the night anyway, and it was certainly nice having a couple handsome guys flirting with her, but they weren't the guy she had wanted to be with. _He has a girlfriend, Veronica._ She tried to remind herself once again that being just friends was enough and she should be happy with that. _And you need to stop having those types of dreams about your 'friend'._ She let out a deep sigh remembering a few of the dreams she had the prior night. She knew seeing him in the flesh again was likely to make them more vivid and she certainly wasn't wrong about that. And when he leaned in to wish her a happy birthday at the bar, she could smell that same special scent that was always uniquely Logan. _Thinking about how he smells is not going to help._ She also thought momentarily about the electric spark when he shook her hand and squeezed her shoulder. _Great, four of the five senses revisited now. Definitely not going to get that fifth sense, Veronica. Mmmmm… taste though. _She let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head.

On the non-Logan front, she was also disappointed that she hadn't been able to get more out of Mac about how so many of the guys there last night knew her. Norris seemed to be quite taken by her, but all Mac would admit is that she'd been called by Logan a few times for some unofficial tech support at the station, so she had seen some of them a few times because of that. She could tell Mac was holding out on her though. _Mac should know who she's dealing with and how could she think I won't eventually figure it out. There's definitely more to the story than what she was willing to admit on our drive home last night._

"Hey sleepy head!" Her dad called out as he knocked on her door. "I've got to head into the office early, but I did make you some birthday bacon and scrambled eggs," he announced as he walked into her room carrying a tray of food.

"Breakfast in bed!" she said in a surprised tone. "I'm definitely moving back home now!"

Keith scowled at her and turned to head back out the door with her food, but then turned back and gave her a mischievous grin when she yelled _'hey' _at him. _Wait, _w_hen did he buy a tray for serving food in bed?_ She gave him a curious look as he set the tray down, which he either didn't notice or chose to ignore. She assumed it was the latter though, given nothing ever got past him. She chuckled when she realized the bacon and eggs were arranged like smiley face.

"Don't forget I made reservations at Luigi's for dinner tonight. You invited Wallace and Mac too right?" Keith asked as Veronica took a bite of bacon and nodded in reply. "Alicia and Darrell will be coming along as well. Oh and I think Weevil was going to try to join us too." He gave her a suspicious look. "Did you make any new friends last night that you want to bring along too?"

Veronica laughed and shook her head. She gave him a devious look after taking a quick sip of her coffee. "So is my pony being delivered to Luigi's then?"

Keith chuckled and shook his head. "You'd think by now you'd have given up on that whole pony infatuation."

"Never!" Veronica replied cheerfully. "I'll never give up on that dream."

"Maybe it's time for a new dream…" Keith said in a teasing tone. "One you don't share with every girl under the age of 10."

Veronica stuck her tongue out at him. "Not every girl… some of them have dad's that love them enough to actually buy them a pony!" she rebutted. _And that's not my only dream, but I guess I can't have the other thing I want either._

"Hey, I did buy you that water bed you always wanted," he said defensively with a sly grin on his face.

"Oh that's right…. the one with the slow leak that nearly ruined my favorite throw rug," she sassed back.

"I'm pretty sure a pony would do a lot more damage than a little leak," her dad pointed out with a devious smile. "Ponies can have very big leaks," he added with a chuckle.

Veronica made a slightly disgusted face and shook her head. "If I had a pony, he'd be perfect."

"Well you feel free to get that pony when you move out _again_," Keith said placing very heavy emphasis on the last word. "And when do you think that might be?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"Well with the extreme swings in hospitality around here…" she teased back with a smirk on her lips.

He shook his head again and then gave her a quick kiss on the head before he wished her happy birthday and hurried off to make it to the office for his first appointment of the day.

She'd just climbed out of the shower a short while later when she heard her phone ring. "Hey Veronica," Leo's unmistakable voice came through the phone. "Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday. The personnel manager had to take off early and I didn't get a chance to talk with her until this morning." He paused a moment, making Veronica slightly nervous about what he was going to say next. "If you're still interested, everything is all set up for you to join us."

Veronica let out the breath she'd been holding once she heard his hesitation. "Of course I'm still interested. Thank you Leo."

"So when did you want to start? Do you want the rest of the week off? Say start next Monday?"

"Ummm…." With all of her friends working, as well as her dad, she was actually anxious to get started. "I could actually start earlier if you'd like. I don't really have much else going on. I should give my old job a call and sort that out, and then I'm all yours."

"What did you have in mind?"

"How's tomorrow sound?"

Leo chuckled before he answered. "Let me check something… yeah, Norris is scheduled to be here from 10am to 7pm tomorrow if you want to come in then. At least initially you two will have the same shift. We have a couple rookies that are stuck splitting a long evening shift, but all the other deputies tend to fill in gaps when needed, so sometimes the hours get a little crazy and aren't always the same from day to day. You can get a copy of your times for the next two weeks when you're here."

Veronica thanked him and disconnected the call. She spent the next couple of hours on the phone sorting things out with her captain in San Francisco and then with her apartment manager there as well. At least while she was occupied with all of that, she didn't let her mind wander to Logan. Unfortunately once she was finished and there wasn't anything else to do, he popped into her mind again. She was genuinely surprised that he remembered when her birthday was after all this time. Of course she remembered his, but that seemed to be more of a girl thing to do than what you'd expect an ex-boyfriend to do. She couldn't help but think back to her nineteenth birthday when they were still together. He'd gotten her several gifts, but of course his bonus gift was one she'd never forget. She actually still had the key card hidden away in one of the slots in her wallet since she'd never given it back to him when they split up. She'd taken it out several times when she was away at Stanford and flipped it over and over in her fingers remembering all the good times they'd had when she'd used it.

She finally decided to get out of the house and took Backup for a walk on the beach hoping that would clear her head of thoughts of Logan. _The beach? Really Veronica? You thought that would clear your head of him?_ She sat on a log for a few minutes watching the surfers out catching some waves and thought about all the times she'd come and watch him surf as well. _Maybe I'll go home and clean the kitchen. _One clean kitchen, living room and bathroom later and it was finally time to start getting ready to go to dinner at least.

Mac had volunteered to pick her up for dinner since her dad was picking up Alicia and Darrell. "So..." Mac hesitantly asked as she drove her to the restaurant. "Brandon and Doug seemed awfully interested in you last night. Did you invite either to join us for dinner tonight?"

Veronica laughed and shook her head. "No. I certainly don't plan on getting involved with anyone who also works at the Sheriff's office."

Mac gave her a skeptical look. "Right... So if Logan asked you out you'd turn him down? Don't think I didn't notice the way you were looking at him last night at the bar like you wanted to devour him whole. Like he was a big plate of fettuccine." She gave her a quick smirk. "I also noticed that he whispered something in your ear that turned you all googly eyed."

Veronica tried to feign innocence, but Mac didn't seem to be buying it at all. "Well that doesn't matter since he has a girlfriend anyway." Veronica finally replied a bit indignantly.

Mac laughed and shook her head. "I really wouldn't call Bex a girlfriend."

"More of a playmate..." Veronica said almost in a whisper, thinking back to years ago when she first confronted Logan about his affair with Kendall.

"What?" Mac asked, not hearing what Veronica had whispered to herself.

"Nothing... well he seemed pretty interested in her anyway regardless of her official title." _Actually he seemed pretty annoyed with her, but he still took her to dinner and whatever else they did after dinner._ "You know what? It's my birthday and I don't want to talk about Logan and his hot model girlfriend."

"So how about the hot firefighter then?" Mac asked with a gleam in her eye.

Veronica's lips turned into a smug grin. "He seemed nice. You never told me how he knew you though."

"Oh I didn't?" Mac asked, almost as if Veronica hadn't asked already or she thought she had already explained that. Veronica couldn't figure out exactly which it was.

"No you didn't. So spill already Mackenzie," Veronica said adamantly.

"I may have stopped by to fix his roommate's computer a time or two." Mac replied trying to sound completely nonchalant.

Veronica narrowed her eyes at Mac, who was intently focusing only on the road in front of her, even though they had just stopped at a red light. "And who might this mysterious roommate be?" Veronica asked in a tone that clearly implied she wasn't going to just drop it.

Mac let out a small huff of air. "Norris."

Veronica let out a victorious laugh. "Mmm hmm... I'm guessing he intentionally messes up his computer just to get you to come over to fix it. Wait! ...does he buy you food while you're there?"

She could tell Mac was starting to blush. "Not every time," she answered in a bit of a huff.

"I knew it!"

Mac just shook her head, but seemed very thankful they had finally arrived at the restaurant.

It was great having her friends and dad all there for her birthday dinner. Her dad had made it up to the bay area a few times for her birthday, but this was the biggest celebration she'd had in years. Weevil had stopped in to wish her a happy birthday, but had a prior engagement he couldn't get out of. Veronica couldn't help but notice he seemed a bit vague about it and couldn't help but wonder what that was about. _What sort of secret are you trying to keep from me Mr. Navarro?_

While they ate, Mac and Wallace convinced her to go out for a few drinks after they were done with dinner. Wallace had heard that they went out the night before without him and he was giving them a guilt trip about it. She could just imagine if he had been there what he would have said about all the guys flirting with her. She decided she needed to get some good intel on him so she'd have something to work with later if necessary. Maybe he'd spill a few incriminating secrets after dinner if he had a couple drinks with them.

"So who was all at Callahan's then?" Wallace asked curiously as they were eating their food.

Veronica noticed that her dad and Alicia were having some side conversation not really listening to them. She looked over at Mac and saw that she had just taken a rather large bite of her food and just shrugged while she was chewing. Veronica gave her a curious look. "Well…" Veronica started to answer as she saw Mac's eyes get a little bit larger. A devious grin spread across Veronica's face. "Doug and Norris from the Sheriff's office and Brandon and Derrick from the Fire Department."

Wallace gave Mac a teasing smile. "Norris you say?" he asked playfully.

Mac swallowed her food and rolled her eyes. "Yes, Norris," she answered a bit disgruntled.

"Seems the good deputy is a bit sweet on our Mac here," Wallace continued on with a smirk.

Veronica smiled and nodded in agreement. "I'd say he seemed quite smitten with her last night."

"When are you gonna give the poor guy a break and go on a real date with him?" Wallace asked with his eyebrows raised. "It's gotta be tough on him to keep coming up with new ways to mess up his PC so it doesn't look too suspicious when he keeps asking you to come and fix it."

Veronica tried to suppress a chuckle, but wasn't very successful at it. Mac shot her a warning glare, that Veronica could only interpret as her about to go into detail about the other guys flirting with her at the bar the night before. "Come on Wallace," Veronica piped in to help defend Mac. "She was very nice to him at the bar last night. Maybe he's just too shy to ask her out. Give the girl a break."

Mac nodded her approval with Veronica's response and gave Wallace a smug look. Wallace just laughed and shook his head.

"How about you Papa Bear?" Veronica asked with an inquisitive look. "I haven't heard about your love life since I've been back."

She was surprised how embarrassed he seemed to get all of a sudden and that he gave a quick look over in Alicia's direction too. _Wow, why does it feel like everyone is trying to keep things secret around here? _Wallace just shrugged and shook his head. "Nothing much to say." _Oh we'll see about that after he's had a few drinks later._

"Mm hmm," she replied as she looked at him skeptically and took another bite of her lasagna.

They were done with their meals and waiting for their desserts to be delivered when she spotted Logan walking up to the front counter. He was still dressed in his uniform, although he had a regular jacket over it. He said something to the girl at the counter who gave him a friendly smile and disappeared into the back.

"I'll be right back," Veronica said to Mac who was sitting next to her as she stood up and headed toward the front.

"Hey," she said to Logan who turned in surprise at seeing her there.

"Hey, yourself." He quirked his lips up in a half smile and looked past her into the restaurant. "Ah... out celebrating with your entire posse I see."

Veronica smiled and nodded. _You're friends now. You could ask him to do friend type things._ "Mac, Wallace and I were going to go out for a few drinks after we have dessert. Do you want to join us?"

At that moment the server returned from the back with a bag of to-go food. "Two lasagnas and garlic bread," she said with a friendly smile as she handed Logan the bag.

"Thanks Miranda," he said with a wink as he took it.

"Oh, sounds like you already have plans." Veronica said gesturing toward the bag.

He looked momentarily at the bag and nodded. "Yeah… maybe next time."

The server had started looking through a magazine on the counter again, not paying any attention to them. Veronica noticed Logan forgot to pay and gave him a curious look. He didn't seem to get it, so she spoke up. "Don't you need to pay for that?"

"Oh right... Ummm... Miranda, how much do I owe you," he asked as he pulled out his wallet.

"Umm..." The server looked even more confused than he did.

He pulled out two twenty dollar bills and handed them to her. "This should cover it, right?"

She looked puzzled as she took the money and looked at him uncertainly. "Yeah... Sure... Do you need some change?"

Logan shook his head and she quirked an eyebrow at him before putting the money in the register.

The exchange was so bizarre that Veronica couldn't help but find it terribly suspicious. She gave him a very judgmental glare without even thinking about it.

He let out an almost bitter laugh and shook his head. "Ah... Now my day is complete..." He blew out a breath before he spoke again. "Happy birthday, Veronica," he said a bit bitterly as he turned and quickly left.

_What the hell was that? Certainly if he was going to use his position as a deputy to extort anyone it would be for more than free Italian dinners. You should just let it go, Veronica._ She glanced at the server who had gone back to looking through her magazine. _You know you can't just let it go, can you?_ "Excuse me," Veronica asked causing the young woman to look up at her. "Why was it so odd that he would pay for his food?"

The young woman tilted her head and raised one of her eyebrows at Veronica. "Because he's one of the restaurant owners." she replied with a shrug.

"Oh," Veronica replied in surprise. _That was not the answer I was expecting_. "Thanks." She let out a deep sigh and glanced out the front door, just catching the glow of a pair of retreating tail lights.

Veronica wandered back over to the table and sat down in front of her tiramisu that had been delivered while she was over talking to Logan. "Everything okay sweetheart?" her dad asked in his suspicious tone with matching expression.

"Yep, hunky dory." She said with a smile. _Other than just making an ass of myself._

Mac gave her an odd look, apparently not believing her reply. When her dad turned his attention back to Alicia, Mac raised her eyebrow at Veronica and leaned in closer to her. "What was that about?" She gestured her head up toward where Veronica had gone to talk to Logan.

Veronica narrowed her eyes at Mac slightly. "Did you know Logan is one of the owners of this restaurant?"

Mac looked slightly guilty but nodded. "Yeah, so?" she asked hesitantly.

Veronica blew out a frustrated breath and shook her head. "I'll tell you later." _And find out what other secrets I need to know to prevent future embarrassments._


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback so far! I hope this chapter is entertaining. Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! Good, bad, meh? **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 7

Veronica's fact finding mission after dinner had not been very successful. Wallace had suggested they just walk to a new bar that opened up a block from Luigi's and she really didn't want to seem all nosy or like a jealous ex-girlfriend trying to find out what her ex-boyfriend was up to, and she knew asking too many questions in front of Wallace was likely to lead to those kind of allegations. She did casually mention being surprised that Logan was one of the owners of Luigi's. Mac had known about it because he'd asked her to help them upgrade some computer systems shortly after he'd invested in it, but she didn't know any of the details that had led to him investing in it. And then after the bar, Wallace said he'd drive her home since it was on his way and not Mac's.

She woke up when she heard her dad start his shower and decided to return the favor and made him breakfast before he had to go to the office.

"Ah, my daughter's first day… it's almost like when you went off to kindergarten." Her dad said with a smirk. "Don't forget to play nice with the others and share your toys."

"I always play nice with others! Mrs. Applebaum thought I was a complete angel," she replied indignantly.

Her dad laughed, "Mrs. Applebaum was a bit off her rocker."

Veronica stuck her tongue out at him and made a face.

"And there's the face you make when you aren't playing nice with others," her dad continued as he laughed and ate a bite of the French toast she'd made.

Her dad had another early meeting, so he left right after eating, leaving her to clean up the breakfast dishes and take Backup for a short walk before getting ready to go to the Sheriff's office. After she got back from their walk, she took a quick shower and then put on one of the more business like suits that she had worn in San Francisco for work.

She arrived shortly before 10am and found Norris already sitting at his desk working on some paperwork. "Good morning, partner," she said with a friendly smile. He glanced up from his paperwork and smiled back at her and nodded.

He gestured to an empty desk across from his. "Leo said you could use that desk. You'll be sharing it with one of the rookies whose stuck on the night shift, so I'm giving you fair warning, you should be careful when you go through the drawers." Veronica squished up her nose and looked at the desk with a slightly disgusted look.

"Maybe we can work out a system. I'll take the drawers on the right and he can have the drawers on the left." She tentatively went over and opened the first drawer on the right as Norris watched her with an amused expression on his face. Luckily all she found in that drawer was a stapler, paperclips, rubberbands and pens. She opened the bottom drawer and found it looked very disorderly and like there could be things in it that someone wouldn't necessarily want a stranger rifling through so closed it quickly and decided she'd leave a note.

Norris spent the next hour or so giving her a tour of the Sheriff's office, although it hadn't changed much since the last time she'd been there, and then went over some of their operating procedures and details about which forms they would have to fill out for various things. It had been a pretty slow morning so far, with the other on duty team out doing some morning patrols. A college age guy had come in wanting to report that his car had been broken into and Norris said he'd do the paperwork with him. Veronica was sitting at her desk looking through some regulations that Norris thought she should brush up on when Logan came in.

"Morning sunshine," he said in one of his overly fake jovial voices, startling her a bit since she hadn't heard him walk up behind her.

"Yeah, good morning," she said a bit hesitantly as he walked by her to his desk. She got up and walked over to his. He'd already taken a seat and gave her an impatient look obviously wondering what she wanted. "I um… I just wanted to say I'm sorry about last night. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Oh, let me enlighten you then," he said with a smug grin on his face as he started to narrow his eyes at her. "You were thinking Logan Echolls was up to something nefarious I'm sure." He cocked his eyebrows in an 'I know I'm right' way.

"Well I'm sorry," she quickly responded giving him an apologetic expression.

"No worries, Mars." He shook his head slightly before he continued. "It wouldn't be a Tuesday in Neptune if Veronica Mars wasn't accusing me of evil." _At least he resisted doing the evil mustache twirl._

She let out a frustrated breath and shook her head. "Look, I was just trying to apologize. You don't have to be such an ass about it."

"Ah, but being an ass is my specialty," he replied with a smug expression on his face. "You should know I've had plenty of practice at it."

She was about to speak again when the phones rang and he gave her a devious smile and picked up the phone on his desk. She saw that Norris had lunged for his as well, but since he was still wrapping up the break-in report, he hadn't been quick enough.

"Sheriff's Department, Deputy Echoll's speaking, how can I help you?" Logan said as he answered the call. She could tell by the expression on his face that she wasn't going to like what came next. "Mmm hmm…" he mumbled as he wrote something on the sheet of paper in front of him. "Yes, we'll send someone out right away ma'am… You have a delightful day yourself." Veronica wasn't sure if that was fake happiness in his tone at the end, or sheer joy in what he was going to throw at her and Norris.

The guy that Norris was helping had just stood up to leave, so Veronica knew he wasn't going to provide an excuse for them not to take this call, and by that gleam in Logan's eyes, she just knew it wasn't going to be a fun one.

"You two," he said pointing at Norris then Veronica. "Your call."

"You know Sparks and McKay are out on patrol, we could just call it out to them," Norris replied, also apparently worried about Logan's expression.

Logan shook his head. "Nope, I heard them call in something on the radio on my way in. Weren't you listening to the dispatch calls?"

Norris gestured over his shoulder to the woman he'd introduced as one of their part-time receptionist/dispatchers earlier in the morning. "Selma's here, so she was doing it." He narrowed his eyes at Logan, "But evidently she wasn't fast enough to get that call before you did."

Logan laughed. "Yeah, or I told her I'd take calls for her so she could catch up on filing some paperwork."

Norris cursed under his breath and shook his head at Logan. "Fine, what's the call?" He stood up and grabbed his coat.

"Public indecency... Caucasian male... 65-75 years of age." Logan chuckled and lowered his voice to a whisper. "She said he was quite hairy too."

Norris groaned and grabbed the slip of paper from Logan with the address.

"Have fun you two," Logan said with a smirk as Veronica rolled her eyes and followed Norris out to his car.

Veronica felt like she needed to apologize to Norris on the way to the car. "Sorry about that. We had a little misunderstanding last night and I think he's being extra malicious today."

Norris chuckled. "Don't sweat it Veronica. Actually he probably would have stuck me with it whether or not you were here. That's sort of our thing anyway… stick the other guy with the gross or disturbing type calls."

Veronica cringed slightly. _I guess someone has to do them. _"Maybe we can get better at beating him to the phones."

Norris chuckled and nodded. "Sometimes I swear it's like he has ESP or something with how quick he gets them."

It was getting close to lunch time when they finally made it back to the station. For a 74 year old guy, he was quite spry and didn't want to be subdued and ran several blocks from them in the buff before they finally got him to stop and put some clothes on.

Logan gave her a smirk as they came back in. "So how was your first assignment?" he asked with the same gleam in his eye that he had earlier. "Everything you dreamed of?"

Veronica felt like saying she didn't dream of naked hairy old guys, but she knew that would only lead to something bad. "It was fine," she replied trying not to give him the satisfaction of any sort of reaction and sat back down at her desk.

"You know…" Logan said with a tone she could tell was him about to be up to no good. "I'm in the mood for brauts for lunch. Can I pick you up one too? I'm sure you'd love a nice juicy braut, right?"

Veronica rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Gee thanks for the offer, Logan." She said in a perky voice. "But I'll pass. You be sure to enjoy _yours_ though… all by yourself."

He snickered and turned back to his desk again. The door to the office opened and a young guy in an expensive looking suit walked in. Veronica's desk was closer to the front than Logan's and Norris was filing the indecency report, so didn't see the guy come in.

"You must be new," the guy said to Veronica giving her a charming smile. She guessed he was probably only a couple years older than she was. He looked very polished and professional, and was carrying a briefcase with him. _Obviously a lawyer._

Veronica heard Logan make a disgruntled sound from behind her and stand up from his desk. "I've got this Mars," he said as he walked toward the man.

Logan wasn't fast enough though and the guy still beat him to Veronica's desk and held out his hand. "Sebastian Townsend," he said with a smile as she reached out to shake his hand.

"Veronica Mars," she replied as she shook his.

"Oh, Keith's daughter?" Sebastian asked with a fond look on his face. Veronica nodded. "He's worked with my firm on a few cases."

Logan let out a clearly audible sigh. "Come on Townsend. Are you here to see your client or flirt with the new deputy?"

"Who says I can't do both," Sebastian said with a flirtatious grin.

"Well since you don't get to charge your clients for the time you spend flirting, unless of course you're flirting with them, I don't think the firm is going to be thrilled with you wasting your time here." Logan said in a less than friendly tone.

Veronica narrowed her eyes at Logan slightly. He just shrugged and gave her a 'what?' look. "It was nice to meet you Sebastian, but I do have some work I need to do," Veronica said giving him a polite smile.

Sebastian nodded and turned away from her to follow Logan back to the holding cells. Logan came back out a few minutes later and sat down at his desk again.

"You don't seem to like Sebastian much?" Veronica commented as she watched him carefully.

Logan sighed and shook his head. "It's tough to like lawyers who help guilty people get away with crimes."

"Oh," Veronica replied. She did know how that felt, though hearing it from Logan was a little surprising for some reason. She'd of course met plenty of lawyers like that in her life, and when they were handsome and charming like Sebastian, she knew they were frequently able to win over juries with their wiles and unfortunately sometimes that resulted in guilty people being set free. And they were both well aware of what had happened in Aaron's case.

She was looking through some other case files that Norris was having her check when Sebastian came back out a short while later.

"Hey Veronica," he said with the same charming smile. "I'm actually on my way to lunch, and thought I'd see if you'd like to join me."

"Thanks Sebastian," she replied politely. "But Deputy Echolls and I already have lunch plans. Maybe some other time."

Sebastian nodded and gave her a smile before he turned to leave. Logan quirked an eyebrow at her when he was gone. "What?" she said in defense. "Didn't you just ask me to get brauts with you right before he came in?"

Logan chuckled and nodded. Norris had been in the back during the start of their little exchange and returned a moment later. He sat at his desk and gave the two of them a curious look, apparently trying to figure out what was going on while he was in the back since they seemed to actually be getting along now.

He glanced over at Logan who had gone back to working on some papers on his desk. "Did Bex come back to town yet?" Norris asked as he picked up a pen and started twirling it in his fingers.

Logan shook his head, "No, she's in LA at least through Friday." He let out a frustrated sigh, "Which means she'll probably stay through Sunday and go to some parties on Friday and Saturday night." _Who was the other lasagna for last night then? Just let it go Veronica, maybe they aren't exclusive, and even if they are, it's really none of your business._

Norris nodded. "Are you bowling with us tomorrow night then?" he asked as he kept flipping the pen around in his fingers.

Veronica couldn't help letting a little smirk cross her face. She tried to look down at her desk so Logan wouldn't notice, but he saw it anyway. "Is Chuckles here coming too?" he asked as he gestured towards Veronica.

Norris turned and gave her a questioning look too. She looked back and forth between the two of them and shrugged.

"Can I let you know tomorrow?" Logan asked as he focused back on the papers on his desk.

"Sure," Norris replied as his cell phone rang.

"Hey," he said after he answered it. He glanced over at Veronica. "Yeah, today's her first day." Veronica quirked up an eyebrow wondering who he was talking to although she already had a hunch who it was. "Yeah we're off at 7… sure I can ask…" He pulled the phone slightly away from his mouth. "Brandon wants to know if you want to go out for pizza with us tonight after work. You could… you could invite Mac too if you want."

Veronica tried to hide the small smirk that was dangerously close to crossing her lips again. She ran her hand over her mouth since she didn't think she'd be successful and hoped it just looked like a thoughtful pose instead. She shrugged. "I'm not sure… I'd need to ask Mac too."

Norris nodded and started talking back into his phone. "She's not sure, but we'll let you know later… okay bye."

As he was setting his phone down, the department phones rang and Logan and Veronica both lunged for theirs at the same time. Veronica realized her line was completely dead without even having a ring tone as Logan talked with the caller. She stood up from the desk and walked around to the other side, looking at the cord that was supposed to connect her phone to a phone jack, but instead it was just lying on the floor under her desk. She picked up the cord and gave Logan a suspicious look. He'd finished taking the call and hung up the phone and chuckled.

"Hey I swear I had nothing to do with that!" he exclaimed holding his hands up defensively.

She looked over at Norris who also shrugged. "Hey, we could go hook him up to the polygraph if you don't believe him," Norris offered with a chuckle.

Logan shook his head and laughed again. "Seriously, I swear Veronica. I didn't unplug your phone. Anyway, someone should take this call. It's a fender bender and they need someone out there to see if anyone needs to be ticketed and to help with traffic." He looked at Norris. "Do you know if McKay and Sparks are still tied up?" Norris shrugged. "I'll give them a quick call and see," Logan said as he stood up and went over to where Selma had been earlier and called them on the radio there.

He walked back over to his desk and told them the other two deputies had it handled. He was just sitting back down as the phone rang again and all three of them lunged for their phones with completely determined expressions on their faces. This time at least Veronica heard a dial tone, so she knew her phone was working. Norris hung his phone up and looked expectantly at Logan. Logan's smirk wasn't as big as the indecency call, but he still had a small twinkle in his eye. When he hung up the phone, he smirked at both of them.

"You'll both appreciate this one. A tip off of drugs at Neptune High." He looked back and forth between the two of them and then smiled at Veronica. "Want to see how it feels to be on the other end of the locker search process?" She smiled and nodded back. Logan glanced over at Leo's office and saw that he seemed to be tied up on the phone with someone. He gave Norris a quick look. "You'll cover for us right? Don't tell Leo we took this one together? Just a one time deal."

Norris smiled and nodded. "Sure but bring me back an In and Out burger will ya?"

"You got it," Logan said with a smile as he grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair. He glanced down at his watch. "Devlin should be her in another fifteen minutes, so he can help you if anything else comes in while we're out. Otherwise, you can grab Leo." Norris nodded and gave them a little wave.

Veronica followed Logan out to one of the cruisers. "What'd your dad think of you coming back to Neptune?" Logan asked after they'd climbed in and he pulled out of the parking lot.

Veronica shrugged. "He wasn't overjoyed, but he wasn't totally opposed either." She paused a second. "Well at least he didn't yell or throw anything."

Logan chuckled. "Even though I'm a deputy now, your dad still sort of scares me," he said with a little smirk.

She laughed and shook her head. "I'm sure you'd enjoy having some reason to arrest him wouldn't you?"

Logan laughed and nodded. "Oh, now that would be too good! Maybe you can arrange something… plant a little contraband from the evidence locker for me."

Veronica gave him a mischievous smile. "Definitely not my first week back. I think I'd better save up some serious brownie points before I try a stunt like that."

Logan chuckled again and shook his head. "We'll have to keep it in mind for a special occasion then."

A minute later they were pulling into the parking lot at Neptune High School.

"Ah, all the fond memories," Veronica said playfully. She pointed to a random parking spot as they slowly drove by. "I think that's where you slashed my tires once."

Logan cleared his throat a little uncomfortably, but then he laughed. He pointed to a red Xterra. "Wrong color, but it still brings back plenty of memories of you in the backseat of mine."

She couldn't help but blush and shake her head. _You started it Veronica. What were you expecting with a walk down memory lane? _She hoped he didn't notice the blush. "Gee, nothing comes to mind. Must not have been that memorable," she said as she quickly tried to recover and teased him back. He chuckled and pulled into an empty parking spot.

They climbed out of the cruiser and walked toward the office. They had to pass near the courtyard where Lilly's fountain was. Logan must have seen her glance in its direction. "You can go and see it while I check in at the office if you want?" He said in a softer tone than she'd heard him use the entire time she'd been back.

She shook her head. "Maybe on the way out." He nodded and walked over to open the door for her. They walked into the office, where a secretary said the Principle would be right out. Logan gave Veronica a smirk and gestured toward the nameplate on the office door.

A moment later Principles Clemmons opened his door. He let out a very audible sigh. "Echolls and Mars?" He shook his head in disbelief.

"You were expecting Crockett and Tubbs perhaps?" Logan said in a joking tone. Veronica chuckled softly as she gave Clemmons a small wave. Clemmons sighed loudly again, and pointed at a young kid that was sitting along the wall.

"Bobby Delano, these officers need you to open your locker," Clemmons said to the boy. He looked scared to death and just nodded and stood up from his seat without another word.

"Who gave you the tip?" Logan asked Clemmons as they started to leave the office.

"Another student. Jimmy Hanson." Clemmons answered giving Logan a questioning look.

Bobby led them to his locker and stared at it for a moment before reaching up with a shaky hand to do the combination. Logan put his hand on his shoulder before he pulled it open. "If you have drugs in there and confess beforehand, we'll go easier on you. Just tell me what it is first." Logan said softly. Bobby looked at him with a worried look and shook his head.

"I… I don't know. I didn't put anything in there." He said in a shaky voice. Logan nodded and gestured for him to open the locker. Inside there was a small bag of marijuana, but it was clearly small enough that anyone could have shoved it through the vents in the locker. "It… it's not mine," he whispered mostly to himself as he saw it.

Logan gave Clemmons a pointed look. "I want to look in Jimmy's locker too."

Clemmons nodded and turned to walk back to the office leaving the other three standing in the hall.

"Does Jimmy have a reason to want to get you in trouble?" Logan asked the young kid calmly.

The other boy swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah. He got kicked off the soccer team for having a vial of E on him and I took his starting position. He thinks I'm the one that narked him out for it. But I didn't."

Logan nodded and gave him an understanding look. Clemmons returned a few minutes later with an angry looking boy who was glaring at Bobby. Clemmons pointed at Jimmy's locker and he went and opened it. Logan started looking in the locker, through the backpack that was in it and around his folders and books.

Veronica noticed Jimmy was fidgeting with his hand in his coat pocket. "Give me the jacket," she said in an authoritative voice. Jimmy's eyes got wide and he froze for a moment.

"Jacket," Logan said harshly. Jimmy let out a sigh and took the jacket off handing it to Logan. Logan pulled out a larger baggy with more marijuana in it.

"Bobby, you can go back to class," Logan said without breaking the glare he was giving Jimmy. Veronica watched Bobby let out a shaky breath and nod, before he turned and practically scampered back down the hall.

"Let's go have a chat in Mr. C's office," Logan said as he put a firm hand on Jimmy's shoulder and forced him to turn toward the other end of the hall.

"How'd you know Bobby was innocent?" Veronica asked as they walked back out to the cruiser a bit later when they finished up in the office. Jimmy had been suspended and his parents were called and Logan issued him a citation and confiscated all the marijuana.

Logan raised his eyebrows questioningly at her. "Really?"

Veronica shrugged. "He could have just been really good at playing innocent."

Logan shrugged in reply. "I've been down here at least once a week and you quickly learn what the guilty kids look like and who they hang out with. Bobby's a smart kid and he's trying to get a soccer scholarship. There's no way he'd risk that by getting mixed up with drugs."

Veronica gave him a small smile and nodded. She was definitely surprised by how well he seemed to know what was going on at the school. He lifted up the baggie of marijuana and shook it slightly. "You sure you don't want to frame your old man?" She raised an eyebrow at him and he laughed as he climbed back into the car.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback so far! Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! Good, bad, meh? **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 8

Their next stop was at In and Out where they ordered food for Norris, as well as for themselves. "You should go out for pizza with Fire Marshall Bill tonight," Logan said thoughtfully as they drove back toward the station. He glanced quickly in her direction for a moment before looking forward again.

"It's Brandon," she corrected him yet again.

Logan laughed. "Yeah I know, but I'm still going to call him Fire Marshall Bill, so you can stop correcting me." He paused a moment before he continued. "Seriously though… he's a good guy."

She chuckled lightly. Having Logan suggest who she should date felt extremely awkward, especially when she still wanted him back. "Maybe I'm still into bad boys," she replied with a teasing tone.

"You were never really into bad boys, Veronica," he said with a bit of a sigh. "And we both know your desire to try to reform them never worked out well for anyone. Stick to the good guys, Veronica."

It took her a little while to come up with a reply. She really wasn't sure what to say and figured whatever she did decide to say would probably be the wrong thing. But it did bother her that he may have really thought that about the way things had been between them. "That's not how it was at all Logan. I mean... I thought you were one of the good guys when I left," she finally blurted out after a minute or two of silence. _Well that wasn't very smooth Veronica._

"Nope," He replied quickly, obviously not having the same trouble expressing himself as she was. "My good guy card was revoked a long time ago. How many times have you heard me get called an ass since you've been back? Including at least once by you just this morning. Obviously my reformation didn't stick at all."

Veronica laughed and shook her head. "I'm sure you're not that bad Logan." He just shrugged and kept looking ahead as he pulled into the parking lot at the Sheriff's department and then quickly climbed out of the car without another word. _Apparently this conversation is over._

As they walked back into the office Norris gave them a slightly concerned look. 'Sorry' he mouthed to Logan right before Leo popped his head out of his office.

"Echolls, in my office, NOW," Leo yelled out in a frustrated tone.

Veronica gave Logan a slightly worried look to which he just shrugged and set his drink and bag of food at his desk on his way to Leo's office. Veronica watched as Leo closed the door behind Logan a bit harder than was probably necessary. Doug was at his desk and stood up and walked over to where Veronica was still standing by Norris's desk, setting the bag of food she was carrying down.

"Hey Doug," Veronica said with a small smile. "Logan picked up something for you too if you're hungry." She pointed to the bag. She turned her attention back to Norris and gestured toward the door with her head. "Was that because we took a call together?" Norris let out a sigh and she noticed Doug glanced nervously away from her as well. "What's up boys?" she asked suspiciously.

"It's nothing," Norris said as he grabbed a burger from the bag and took out some fries too.

"Doug?" she asked as she spun and looked at him with a piercing gaze.

Doug had a deer in the headlights look. "I um… I don't know…" he stuttered out as he looked nervously at her.

"Look Veronica," Norris said, apparently feeling the need to rescue Doug from Veronica's interrogation. "It's about something that happened last week. Leo just found out and was a bit pissed. It doesn't have to do with your little excursion. Although I suppose when he found out about that it didn't help the matter any."

The door to Leo's office opened abruptly. "Fine," Logan said a bit indignantly and stormed back toward his desk. The three of them all turned to look at him at the same time, which made him scowl even more. "Am I the fucking lunch time entertainment?" he grumbled as he walked by them back to his desk. Veronica and Doug both raised their eyebrows in a similar surprised expression, while Norris looked more serious and followed Logan's movement to his desk with his gaze.

Logan sat down at his desk and grabbed his soda. "Don't even say 'I fucking told you so' Clayton." Logan snapped as he stared at Norris. Norris shook his head and let out a frustrated breath.

"Thanks for lunch," Norris snapped back before he took a bite of the burger he'd pulled out of the bag.

"Yeah, whatever," Logan said as he grabbed his bag and soda and stood up, walking back to one of the empty interrogation rooms and slammed the door.

"What was that?" Veronica asked Norris pointing back and forth between the room Logan vanished into and Norris.

"Temper tantrum," Doug replied with a chuckle. "Or wait," he quirked an eyebrow at Norris. "Lover's quarrel?"

Norris gave Doug an angry glare and grabbed the soda he was already drinking and his food and walked back to the room Logan had disappeared into and closed the door more gently behind him.

Veronica turned back to Doug with a sly smile. "So what's up with all that?" she asked waving her arms around the room in general now.

Doug shrugged. "They don't tell me everything," he said as he took another bite of his burger. She narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't quite buying it.

"So what _do_ they tell you?" she asked as she cocked her head to the side and stared curiously at him.

"All I know is Norris warned him last week that Leo would find out what happened at River Stix," Doug said in a low voice after swallowing the bite that he took. "But I don't know what actually happened. I wasn't working that day."

"Hmmm." Veronica grabbed her own food and sat back down at her desk. Doug moved so he could stand closer to her and leaned against a desk by hers.

"So how's your first day going?" he asked before taking another bite of his burger.

"Interesting," she said as she glanced back over toward the interrogation room. _What the hell was all that really about?_

Doug tried to make small talk with her about various random subjects as they both finished their burgers, including asking where she'd gone to high school. He'd mentioned that he'd gone to Pan High and asked if she'd heard about the whole Polly Parrot and Billy Goat napping thing since she went to Neptune. She practically choked on the bite of burger she'd just taken when he asked. She decided to share the story with him, so by the time Logan and Norris finally returned to their desks she was just finishing up and Doug was completely amazed at her involvement in it.

"Did you two kiss and make up?" Doug asked sarcastically as the two men sat back down at their desks.

"Nope," Logan said popping the P loudly. "You're still stuck with me, sweet cheeks." Logan had grabbed a pen and started filling out some paper work.

"I could fill out the paperwork from the high school call if you want," Veronica offered trying to be helpful.

"I'll handle it," Logan said without looking up from his desk.

'Okay,' Veronica mouthed silently and turned back to study Norris. Norris shook his head at her and picked up a pen again and started flipping it over in his fingers.

"So did you decide if you want to go out for pizza tonight?" Norris asked while she was staring at him. "Brandon only texted me like 3 times while you were gone to find out."

She heard Logan chuckle to himself. She turned quickly towards him and caught him smirking, although as soon as he saw her look at him, he focused back on the paperwork he was filling out.

"Let me see if Mac is interested and then I'll let you know," Veronica answered with a small sigh. _I suppose I need to eat dinner and dad did say he'd be having dinner with Alicia tonight. _She grabbed her cell phone to start to text Mac when the department phones went off.

Logan may have been off his game from whatever was going on earlier and didn't actually beat her to the call, although she'd lunged so quickly for her phone she'd dropped her own cell phone and it slid across the floor toward where Doug was still standing. Veronica smiled with the satisfaction that she'd actually gotten to the call first. She wrote down the information and then hung up the phone. _Drunk and disorderly call? Doesn't sound all that exciting._

She waved the paper in the air at Doug and then Logan. "Your call," she said, mimicking Logan from the morning. Although after the tenseness from earlier it lacked some of the satisfaction she was hoping for.

"What is it?" Logan asked with a huff as he set his pen down.

"Drunk and disorderly at a place called Dee's." Veronica read off the paper. She really needed to spend a little more time researching all these new places in town, because she had no idea where that was other than the address she was given.

"Aren't you sweet," Logan said with a big smile as he plucked the slip of paper from her hand and grabbed his coat from the chair. She wasn't expecting that reaction. _That actually seemed like an appreciative smile, versus a sarcastic smile._

Doug seemed to be genuinely smiling too and gave her a little wave as he turned back to her before following Logan out the door. She could tell Norris was fighting back a laugh. "Okay," Veronica said in a frustrated tone. "Why the _happiness_ over that call?" Clearly she was missing something that the other three knew.

"D's is a high end strip club," Norris explained with a chuckle. He shrugged when he saw her questioning expression. "We usually fight over who gets to go for the calls when they come in through normal dispatch." Veronica shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Well maybe that will cheer him up from whatever pissed him off earlier," she said in a slightly disgruntled tone as she went to take another drink from her soda.

"Oh, I'm sure it will," Norris said as he smirked at her and went back to twirling his pen.

Veronica noticed Doug had set her phone on her desk after she'd dropped it. She picked it up and continued her text to Mac. 'Want 2 go 2 pizza with Brandon &amp; Norris tonight? ;)' she typed and sent the message off.

'Do U?' came back a moment later. It was nice to know that Mac was willing to be her excuse or wing-woman again.

_That's the question isn't it? Do I want to go and hang out with Brandon or go home and sulk over Logan's non-single status?_ She still felt odd about him recommending that she give Brandon a chance. _Is he that into Bex or just that uninterested in me that he wants to push me off to someone else?_ She couldn't help but feel like he was totally sending her mixed signals. She was certain he'd flirted with her a bit at the bar and then even the comment today about the back of his Xterra. And he seemed a bit jealous about Sebastian hitting on her earlier too. _It's just pizza Veronica_. 'Sure, why not' she texted back. She eyed Norris again who was looking over something on the laptop that was on his desk. She briefly considered trying to pry information out of him about what had happened with him and Logan earlier by using dinner with Mac as a bargaining chip. It wouldn't be the first time she'd used Mac to get something she wanted. She shuddered thinking back to poor Mac and the dinner on a pirate ship.

"Are you texting Mac?" Norris asked curiously when he heard her phone beep again.

"Mm hmm," she replied looking at the screen and then back up at him. "So what's the story about what happened with you and Logan earlier? Doug mentioned River Stix."

Norris looked slightly annoyed that Doug had even said that much. "It's nothing Veronica. Logan just did something he shouldn't have and Leo found out when he was talking to a witness about a different case."

"What did he do?" Veronica asked, clearly not ready to just let it go.

"Technically he was off duty, so it wasn't something that Leo could really do anything about." He replied, keeping his voice a bit low probably so Leo wouldn't hear them.

"Were you there when it happened?" Veronica asked next, still trying to piece together clues of what it might have been.

"Look Veronica," Norris said giving her a determined look. "This may surprise you, but Logan's actually my friend and I'm not going to go around talking about him behind his back. Okay?"

Veronica let out a small sigh and nodded. _Norris and Logan friends? Definitely not something I had ever expected during high school, but how much of Neptune since I've been back has been like I expected._ Mac had texted back that she'd go if Veronica wanted her to. "So Mac said she's in for pizza, as long as there's a vegan option of course," Veronica informed Norris. His lips quirked up in a small smile and he nodded. He pulled out his cell and sent Brandon a quick message.

When Logan and Doug made it back a while later, Doug escorted the guy they arrested back to the holding cell while Logan went straight for his desk. Norris had been doing something back in the evidence room, leaving Veronica alone with Logan. _I wonder if he's in a better mood after spending almost an hour at the strip club._ "So…" she said as she stood up and wandered over toward his desk. He quirked his eyebrow at her and gave her a questioning look. "What was that earlier with Leo? I didn't get you in trouble for going on that call with you did I?" He gave her an incredulous look and shook his head.

"I'm pretty sure you already know it wasn't about that Veronica. You need to up your game a little more if you think you're actually going to con any information out of me." He gave her a smug smile. "Although hey… I did appreciate the call you threw our way." He waggled his eyebrows at her and grinned a bit more lasciviously.

Unfortunately the universe decided at that very moment to have a new call come in. Logan gave her a devious smile, knowing he was the only one at a desk and Selma wasn't at the front counter. He quickly answered the phone and started talking to the caller. He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes and nodded while whoever was on the other end kept talking. He didn't even write anything down. "Okay… I'll send someone over."

Norris returned as Logan was hanging up the phone and shot Veronica a slightly worried look. She mouthed 'sorry' to him as he walked over to stand next to her. They both looked at Logan waiting to find out if what they were in store for.

"Mrs. Anderson…" Logan said giving Norris a knowing look.

Norris groaned softly. "How about we rock, paper, scissors for it?"

Veronica shot them both a confused look. _Was that really an option and why hadn't they told her that when she had to chase down the hairy naked old guy._ Logan looked as if he was actually considering it for a moment, and then shook his head.

Norris grumbled again and then grabbed his coat. Veronica grabbed hers too and then followed him out of the station. She wasn't terribly surprised that she felt like an outsider since it was her first day, but she'd sort of expected to not be quite so clueless since she'd grown up here. Not to mention all the time she'd spent around the station when her dad was there.

"So, Mrs. Anderson?" Veronica asked as she climbed into the cruiser with Norris.

"She's a crazy old lady who thinks people break in and steal her stuff. She calls usually about once a week with some report." Norris explained as he started _ the car. "Usually whatever it is, we find it just misplaced in another room." Norris chuckled to himself before he continued. "One afternoon Logan had to help her find her dentures." Veronica snorted at that thought. "Like who the hell is going to break into someone's house to steal dentures?" Norris asked as he laughed and shook his head.

"Why do you keep responding to the calls?" Veronica asked curiously. She would think they could probably charge her with some sort of false report citation instead.

Norris shrugged. "She's a little nutty, but she doesn't mean any harm. If we're super busy we'll tell her we can't come out right away and not worry too much about it. Also, her son works for the newspaper, so we don't want any bad publicity if we ignored her either."

They spent about thirty minutes talking to Mrs. Anderson about the gold pocket watch that used to belong to her departed husband that she thought had been stolen. Veronica had looked around the house a bit while Norris talked with her and found the pocket watch sitting on a dresser in a spare bedroom. Mrs. Anderson was extremely grateful that it hadn't been stolen since it meant so much to her.

On their way back to the station, Logan called on the radio to see if they could stop by the scene of an accident or if he and Doug should take it. They were closer, so stopped and talked with the witnesses and handled traffic until the tow truck drivers had removed the damaged cars.

It was getting close to the end of their shift when they finally made it back to the station. Leo had left for the day already while they were gone and at the moment Logan was the only one there.

"What happened to Devlin?" Norris asked when he noticed the other deputy wasn't around.

"I sent him down to take a statement from someone at the hospital. I didn't think we both needed to be there for that, so sent him on his own." Logan said as he stood up from his desk.

"I'll stay until he gets back," Norris said as he sat down at his desk.

Logan glanced at his watch. "You don't have to stay. He'll be back soon and isn't your shift over." Norris shrugged. Logan gave him a mischievous smile. "Don't you have a pizza date with your favorite tech support girl?" Norris blushed slightly. Logan glanced at Veronica with the same smile on his face. "I wouldn't want you two to be late for your dinner plans."

Veronica was a little surprised that he knew they were going since he'd been gone when she'd finally agreed to go. _Was he just assuming I said yes or did someone actually tell him?_

Logan walked over toward Veronica and stopped right in front of her. "Can you read over this report and sign it so I can get it filed?"

"Sure," she glanced over at Norris who had stood up and grabbed his coat again. "I was going to head home and change after this, so I'll see you in a little while at Cho's." Norris nodded and said a quick good night to Logan before he headed for the door.

Veronica sat on the edge of her desk looking over the report. She glanced up and saw that Logan was standing in front of her with an odd expression on his face. She quirked an eyebrow at him, wondering what was up with him now. "What?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Nothing," he said as he shook his head and went back to sit at his desk.

She finished reading the report and grabbed a pen off her desk and signed it. She hopped down and walked over to Logan and handed it back to him.

"No games this time," she said somberly. "Do you want to talk about what happened earlier with you and Leo?"

He looked at her seriously for a moment and then shook his head. She nodded and then quickly turned back to her desk to get her bag. He reached out and grabbed her hand before she completely moved away. She turned back to look at him, wondering what he wanted now. "It's really nothing you need to worry about. Okay?" he said softly.

She took a deep breath and stood in place looking at him intently. "I just want us to be friends again Logan."

He let out a deep breath too and nodded. "I know. I'm sorry." He looked down at the floor before he spoke again. "I'll try not to be such an ass tomorrow."

"Good," she said resolutely as she realized he was still holding on to her hand. She gave it a light squeeze causing him to look back up at her and give her a small smile.

"Have fun at dinner tonight," he said with a more genuine tone to his voice.

She let out a small sigh and nodded. "Thanks." _Though I'd much rather be having dinner with you._ A surreptitious thought suddenly struck her. "How late are you working tonight? I could swing by and drop off a pizza later for you and Doug."

"We're on until 11pm tonight," he replied with almost a surprised tone to his voice. "You don't have to do that though Veronica."

"I know," she said back with a smirk. "But as your _friend_ I want to."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you later then. And no anchovies," he added with a sly grin.

She smiled and nodded. "Extra anchovies, got it." She gave him a little wink as she grabbed her bag and headed toward the door.


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback so far! Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! Good, bad, meh? I'm thinking this chapter probably isn't going to go the direction anyone was expecting based on the earlier reviews. It actually took a different spin than I'd even thought of before I wrote it. And I know one POV can be frustrating at times if the other character isn't willing to talk about things!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 9

Veronica was the last of the four to arrive at Cho's. Norris and Brandon were sitting on one side of a booth and Mac on the other. Veronica was actually a little surprised they hadn't tried to divide them up. She slid into the booth next to Mac and gave them a slightly apologetic look. "Sorry, I hope you weren't waiting too long for me."

"No worries Bond," Mac said instinctively.

"Bond?" Brandon asked as he gave the two women a very confused look.

Norris had a small smirk on his face, clearly knowing enough about Veronica's extracurricular activities at Neptune High to get the reference.

"Um…" Mac blurted out, shooting Veronica a worried glance.

Veronica shrugged and gave her an understanding smile. "I'm sure you probably know my dad's a PI, and I used to do some of my own investigating when I was in high school and sometimes Mac would help me too, so we would call each other Bond and Q."

"I'm not surprised at all that Mac would be the perfect Q to your Bond," Brandon replied with an appreciative smile at Mac. "So did you work on any interesting cases?"

Mac couldn't help but chuckle to herself, while Veronica just shrugged. _Obviously Brandon hasn't Googled me. Hmmm... psychotic murderers, lunatic rapists, bombers, secret societies... Where does one start?_

"Well she did save me from being framed by a corrupt ATF agent," Norris interjected.

"In high school?" Brandon asked with a look of surprise clearly evident on his face. Norris nodded in reply. "Here I was expecting missing text books or stolen cheerleader pompoms."

Mac laughed and shook her head. "You have no idea what Neptune High was like."

Veronica though was suddenly lost in the memory of that day at the Camelot, when Logan had punched the aforementioned ATF agent. She couldn't help but remember how that first time kissing Logan had felt. She was a bundle of nerves and passion and could only quickly run away once the reality of what they had just done had hit her. Of course she'd thought of those two minutes of heaven the entire drive to Norris's house, as well as many times in the years since then.

"Yeah, who knows what would have happened to me if Veronica hadn't exposed the guy," Norris continued with a grateful smile on his face breaking her out of her own little internal flashback. "Thanks to photos she took, the guy was exposed for trying to frame me just to make a bust."

Veronica forced herself to focus on the present again and gave him a quick nod. She glanced back at Brandon again. "No missing text books or pompoms, but I did find a missing dog and our school mascot."

As they waited for their pizzas to be cooked, Veronica shared a few of the more innocuous cases she'd worked on. She decided to stick with lighter stories and not get into the heavy ones. After telling them about the guys who had tried to con poor Georgia, she somehow kept the money theme going and started telling them about the 5 grand that disappeared from Logan's poker party.

"So you knew Echolls before too then?" Brandon asked almost innocently.

Mac couldn't help but let out a bit of a scoff and quickly looked down at her drink. Norris gave Veronica a curious look as well. He wasn't part of the 09er crowd, and with most of the time she was with Logan being over summer vacations and college, she wasn't sure how much he may have actually known about their past history of dating.

"Um… yeah," Veronica replied not quite sure how much she should actually say. Although she didn't really feel like trying to keep anything a secret either. "We actually dated off and on for a while."

"Oh," Brandon said a bit surprised. "You don't really seem like his type."

Veronica cocked her head in a questioning manner. "And why is that?"

Brandon must have realized he put his foot in his mouth and got a bit flustered. "I'm sorry, that didn't come out the way I meant it."

"And how did you mean it?" Veronica asked as she narrowed her eyes at him, suddenly feeling extremely defensive, though she wasn't exactly sure why.

"I just meant…" Brandon looked quickly at Mac for some help and then back at Veronica when he realized Mac wasn't going to interject at all. "You seem really nice and well… he seems to date women who aren't very nice."

_Well I guess that's true. Bex certainly didn't seem to qualify as 'nice' when she'd met her. She couldn't help but wonder about the 'women' comment though. How many other not-nice women had there been._

"That's true," Mac finally interjected, though Veronica wasn't sure who exactly she was trying to save. "Veronica is extremely nice. She even helped reunite a father and son during college. That was quite a story wasn't it? Have you heard of Apollo Bukenya? He wrote a best selling book about being a child soldier in Uganda. Veronica helped him reunite with his lost father."

"Wow, yeah," Brandon said as he nodded his head at Mac. "I actually did read his book. That's amazing that you got to help reunite them."

Veronica nodded and tried to silence the little voice that was still furious in her head. It was probably a good thing that their food was ready at that point, causing a disruption in the discussion. Brandon and Norris said they'd go up to the counter to get their food, leaving Veronica and Mac alone at the table for a few minutes.

"Sorry about that," Mac said apologetically.

Veronica gave her a puzzled look. "Sorry for what?"

"Scoffing when he asked if you knew Logan," Mac replied with a slight cringe on her face.

Veronica shook her head. "It's not a big deal Mac." She let out a slightly frustrated breath. "Although I really didn't like his response." Mac nodded in understanding.

The guys returned at that point though, so she didn't get a chance to talk more with Mac about it.

"So Norris, did you ever get to take that trip to Japan?" Veronica asked after swallowing a bite of her pizza. She'd actually forgotten about that until he'd mentioned the incident with the ATF agent again.

A broad smile crossed Norris's face and he nodded. He shared details of his trip with them while they were enjoying their dinner.

"I'd love to go to Japan someday," Mac commented after listening to him talk for a while.

"I'm sure you'd really love it there," Norris replied with a shy smile and a nod.

Even though Veronica was still a bit annoyed at Brandon's comment, she had to admit watching Norris and Mac awkwardly flirt with each other was sort of adorable.

When there was a lull in the conversation she said she was going to go up and order a pizza to take back to the station for Logan and Doug. When she'd first arrived, she'd thought she'd just pop back in after they all had left to get the pizza instead of drawing attention to it, but her annoyance from earlier made her change her mind. The other three gave her a curious look, but no one said anything as she stood up and went to the counter to order. When she made it back to their table, the three of them were talking about an art show focusing on Japanese history that was on display at Hearst. Norris asked Mac if she'd like to go see it with him on Saturday, then nervously extended the invitation to Veronica and Brandon.

"I think I'm supposed to be doing something with my dad on Saturday," Veronica lied. Mac shot her a slightly suspicious look and Veronica sighed and shrugged. "But I'll let you know if my plans change."

"I think I'm actually on call on Saturday," Brandon responded as he nervously fidgeted with some pizza crust on his plate.

They sat around chatting a bit more about what it was like going to college at Hearst, and then Veronica heard her number called for the pizza she'd ordered for Logan and Doug.

"Well I think I'll be heading out," Veronica said with a smile as she stood up to go. "See you tomorrow Norris."

Norris nodded and gave her a small smile.

"Have a good night Veronica," Brandon said a bit quietly. "Thanks for having dinner with us."

Veronica gave him a polite smile and nodded. She felt a bit guilty as she walked up to get the pizza. _Was what he said really that bad, or where you just looking for a reason to get mad at him? _After she grabbed the box she stopped at their table again with a more genuine smile. "Thanks for inviting me. I had a good time." The others nodded and Brandon seemed a bit more relaxed than he had when she first left the table. She said a quick goodnight to them all and then headed out to her car.

She blew out a frustrated breath as she climbed behind her steering wheel. _Why did it bother me so much when he said that I didn't seem like Logan's type? Was it because I felt like he was attacking me or like he was attacking Logan?_ She shook her head, still not able to put her finger on why it had bothered her so much, but it certainly had. She backed out of her parking spot and headed toward the Sheriff's department.

When she walked into the Sheriff's office carrying the pizza, the first person she saw was a younger deputy that she hadn't met yet. He was looking over papers at the reception desk. "Can I help you?" he asked with a half way friendly smile as she approached him. His badge said he was Deputy Bridges.

"Yeah, is Logan or Doug here?" Veronica asked looking past him back to where their desks where.

"Deputy Devlin's here, can I let him know what this is about?" the young man asked giving her a questioning look.

"Um.. yeah.. I'm actually Deputy Mars and just came in to bring them some food." Her bad mood from the comment at Cho's was starting to make her defensive now too.

"Oh!" The guy's eyes got a bit larger. "Yeah… got your _note_."

Veronica smiled and nodded. "Great. Did you clean those drawers out yet?"

The guy shook his head and gave her what she assumed was an annoyed expression. "Not yet. I'll do it before I leave in the morning though."

"Be sure you do," Veronica said with her eyes slightly narrowed at him. She made a mental note to be careful when she opened the drawers in the morning since she wasn't sure he appreciated the fact he had to share a desk with her.

"Hey Veronica!" Doug called out from behind the rookie, finally noticing she was there.

"Hi Doug," Veronica replied as she walked behind the counter and headed toward him. "I brought some pizza for you guys."

"Yeah," Doug replied with a friendly smile. "Echolls mentioned you might be stopping by."

Veronica looked around for Logan. "And where is Deputy Echolls?"

Doug gave her a slightly apologetic look. "You just missed him. He left like 5 minutes ago to take a call with the other on duty deputy."

"Oh," Veronica replied. She tried not to seem disappointed in that fact.

"But thanks for bringing us food," Doug said with a broader smile. She nodded and handed the box to him.

"Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," she said deciding she should just go home at that point.

"Well we're actually off tomorrow. We've got the Saturday shift instead. But if you're going bowling tomorrow night, then I'll see you there."

"Oh right," Veronica replied. She hadn't paid much attention to the other schedules and didn't realize that Logan and Doug would be off the following day. She'd just written down the days and times that Norris had told her they'd be working. "I'm not sure yet. Um, is Logan going?" _God Veronica, could you be any more obvious._

Doug shook his head. "Nah, I don't think so. He was talking to Bex earlier and it sounded like he was planning to spend the day in LA with her tomorrow."

Veronica nodded and gave him her best unaffected smile. _Great, he'll be in LA with Bex and if I go bowling, I wonder how awkward that will be after tonight's minor fiasco at Cho's._ "I think I'll see how my day goes tomorrow. I might be too exhausted if I have to chase around more naked elderly men."

Doug laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I heard all about that when you were at the high school with Echolls."

Veronica nodded. "So, have a good night. See you Friday if not tomorrow night?" Doug nodded and gave her a little wave.

"Thanks again for the pizza. "I'll try to save at least one piece for Echolls."

"Well you know what they say…. you snooze, you lose," Veronica said with a smile as she waved back and headed for the door. _Yeah Veronica, you snoozed and lost with Logan didn't you?_ She let out a frustrated sigh and continued out to her car.

Her dad had sent a text to her earlier in the evening that he was going to stay the night at Alicia's. She was still a bit ticked off about everything when she made it home, although she still wasn't exactly sure why, so she grabbed her taser and put Backup on his leash and took him out for a late run. She figured they'd both sleep better if they burned off some energy. As she ran, she started wondering if Logan had intentionally taken the call so he'd be gone when she arrived. She tried telling herself that she was just being paranoid. _It's not like one of the other three would have given him a heads up that she'd left Cho's. Or would they? Norris and Logan sure are buddy-buddy these days._ They'd just returned to the house and she was digging her keys out of her coat pocket when the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind her made her jump and reach for her taser.

"Shit, I'm sorry Veronica," Logan said with big worried eyes as he saw her expression.

Veronica let out a huff of air and shook her head, laughing slightly. "You should be," she said giving him a faux angry look.

"I um… I was just on my way home and thought I'd see if you were still awake to apologize for missing you at the station. Thanks for bringing pizza for us." He gave her a small smile as she nodded in reply. "And thanks for remembering what my favorite pizza there was."

"Sure," Veronica said with a small smile. "Did Doug save more than one slice for you?"

Logan nodded and laughed slightly. "Yeah there were two." She wasn't sure if he was just messing with her or not.

"I should let you get inside," he said almost nervously as he started to turn back toward the sidewalk.

"Did you want to come in for a minute?" Veronica asked quickly. She knew she shouldn't have the moment it came out of her mouth, but she just really didn't want him to go. Their interactions that day had been so all over the map. She was hoping away from the station, that they could maybe at least end the day a bit better than it had started. She still felt bad about the entire misunderstanding at Luigi's the night before.

He glanced nervously past her for a moment. "Um… I don't know."

She chuckled. She knew that expression way too well. "My dad's not home if that's what you're worried about."

Logan gave her a knowing smile and nodded. "Sure, just for a few minutes though."

Veronica nodded in reply and opened the front door, taking Backup off his leash. He immediately went over to his water bowl and started lapping up the water. It finally dawned on her that she probably looked like a total mess. She'd thrown on some running clothes and put her hair up in a pony tail and could feel some of the sweat on her face now. _Yeah, I'm sure I look fabulous enough to compete with a hot model._

"Can I get you something?" She asked as she opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water for herself, cringing as she caught her reflection in the window above the sink.

He shook his head. "Thanks, but I'm good." He gave her a curious look. "So how'd dinner go tonight?"

She looked carefully at him. _Did Norris talk to him after and he already knew about her little incident at the mention of his name?_ "It was fine," she replied trying to remain nonchalant about it. She paused a moment. "Why?" He shrugged and looked down at the floor. _There's his tell-tale guilty sign._ "Logan?"

He looked back up at her and gave her a small sad smile. "I just want you to be happy Veronica. I don't want to be the reason for bad things happening in your life anymore."

_Norris must have told him, and now he's blaming himself for what happened between me and Brandon at dinner._ "You aren't Logan," she replied with a determined expression on her face. He shrugged and nodded.

"I should let you get to bed. You're on duty tomorrow right?" he asked with a questioning expression.

_Yeah, and you're off with Bex tomorrow._ She nodded. "Yeah and thanks for dropping by and scaring the shit out of me."

He laughed and shook his head. "Do you remember all the times Duncan and I would try to hide and scare you and Lil?"

She laughed and nodded in reply. "Yeah, you two were terrible when you were twelve."

"I guess some things never change," Logan said a bit dolefully as he turned and headed back to the door.

Veronica grabbed his arm before he reached the door. "Hey, will you please stop this?" He gave her a confused look and shook his head, apparently not understanding what she meant. "I feel like you keep putting your self down and I don't understand why Logan."

He gave her a somber expression and he shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about." His gaze momentarily fell to the ground again. "Well, see you Friday, I guess," he finally said after a moment of silence looking back up at her with a small smile.

She let out a frustrated sigh, then nodded and released his arm. "Yeah, see you then."

She locked the deadbolt and then leaned against the door after he left. She couldn't help but wonder what was really going on in his head. She hoped that if she gave him some time though and worked on being friends again, that maybe he'd finally open up and really talk to her. Her hope that they'd end the night on a better note than the day had started didn't really seem to have happened. She was encouraged though that he'd made the effort to stop by even if the reason for the visit still seemed to be a bit of a mystery to her.

**A/N – While you're down here, be sweet and leave me a comment! Just like sifting through evidence is catnip for Veronica, reading reviews is mine. Thanks!**


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback so far! Sorry there's not as much LoVe as people would like at the beginning of this story, but there will eventually be more. I know I'm horrible about the slow teasing build up in this story! At least I'm giving you a really long chapter this time, so there's that. And lots of surprises in this one I'd say too. Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 10

Veronica woke up in the morning still just as confused about everything in her life as she had been the night before. Here she had a really great guy who seemed to be genuinely interested in her and she got mad when he said she didn't really seem to be Logan's type. _Why did it bother me so much whether or not Brandon thought I was Logan's type?_ She was still lying in bed staring at the ceiling in her dad's guest room as she pondered that question. She let out a deep breath and crossed her arm over her face to block out the light. Of course she knew deep down one of the reasons why that bothered her. _Because we were supposed to be epic and if that had been true, it shouldn't seem so unlikely that we could have been together._ She finally pushed herself off the bed and headed toward the shower. She still couldn't help but wonder how much Logan had heard about what happened at dinner. _And now I'm back to being confused._ Had he called Norris and asked how the dinner went, or had Norris called and updated Logan on his own? _Did it really even matter, Veronica?_

Given Logan wasn't working, she decided on her way to the station to just push all thoughts of him out of her mind for the day. She stopped off and picked up a coffee and scone for herself on the way there. Since her dad had stayed over at Alicia's, she hadn't bothered making breakfast at the house and left a little early for work so she could stop off at the Hut. She was just climbing out of her car at the station when she heard a familiar voice call her name. She turned with a friendly smile in the direction the greeting had come from, instantly recognizing it.

"Deputy Sacks," Veronica replied warmly. "I was wondering when we'd cross paths."

Jerry smiled and nodded. "Yeah, Leo told me you were back and I must say I was a little surprised you decided to join our team, although I was glad to hear you had." He gave her a knowing smile. "Better having you working with us than against us."

Veronica knew from her dad that Sacks had been one of the deputies that had worked with Leo to take down Vinnie after he'd won the election. Even though he'd made some questionable moves over the years, she knew deep down Sacks was a decent guy. She'd wondered if she'd run into him on her first day, but he'd had the day off. "Yeah, who would have thought all those years ago that we'd end up working together on the same team?"

Jerry chuckled as they walked into the station together. Norris was already at his desk as she walked over and took a seat at hers. Jerry gave her a quick head nod as he walked a bit farther back in the station and took a seat at his own desk.

"Morning," Norris said almost tentatively.

"Morning," she replied back as she turned her attention to slowly inspecting the desk drawers. _Don't forget, no thoughts or questions about Logan today. No interrogation to find out why he seemed to know things didn't go well at Cho's._ _So let's see what Bridges did to our desk. _The first two drawers were completely empty, but the third still had some stuff left in it. It looked like it was mostly empty candy wrappers and some half eaten power bars. _Yuck_. "Cleaning supplies?" she asked as she looked up at Norris. He pointed toward a cabinet and she went over and found some cleaner and paper towels. She pulled the drawer out and dumped its contents into the trash and then used the cleaner and paper towels to clean all three out. She glanced up at Norris and noticed he was watching her with a curious expression. She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Thanks for coming to dinner with us last night," he said with a small smile. "I really had a great time. I'm sure its no secret that I really like Mac."

Veronica laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, if that was supposed to be a secret, well… you haven't done a very good job at keeping it."

Norris chuckled. "Yeah, probably as good a job as Brandon has done about being interested in you."

Veronica let out a small sigh. "Yeah… Well after last night, I wouldn't be surprised if he's had second thoughts on that now." She took a deep breath. "Honestly though, I just want to get settled back here in Neptune again. I didn't come back looking to jump into a relationship with anyone." _Liar… okay well anyone who isn't Logan._ "I hope I didn't give him the wrong impression at some point."

Norris gave her an understanding smile. "Yeah, that's understandable. It's got to be a bit strange coming back after all this time. I'm sure a lot of things are different now." He paused a moment before he continued. "Don't worry about last night at all. Brandon felt a bit like an idiot later with how he reacted to you being an ex of Logan's"

_Well he did act like a bit of an idiot. So much for staying away from the topic of Logan today._ She shrugged in reply. "It just caught me a bit off guard I guess. I just didn't see why it seemed so unlikely that we would have been together."

Norris shrugged and looked down at his desk. "Yeah, I don't know," he replied softly.

_Don't know versus don't want to say? I'm sure it's the latter from that reaction Norris. _She doubted she'd get him to spill anything about Logan though so decided not even to go down that path again with him.

"So, going to join us for bowling tonight?" Norris asked as he glanced back up at her, perhaps wanting to change the topic of conversation.

Veronica shrugged. She was starting to feel just the slightest bit overwhelmed by it all. _Pool, pizza, and now bowling._ This was certainly quite a lot more socializing than she ever did in San Francisco. She was never one for lots of group activities even before she left and she'd gotten even worse in the years since then. Not to mention facing Brandon so soon after the incident at dinner the night before was not something she was looking forward to. _And then of course there's the fact that Logan's not going to be there either since he's in LA with Bex._ "I'm not sure. I might just sit this one out but maybe I'll come next week."

Norris nodded, looking slightly disappointed, and went back to looking at papers on his desk. Leo appeared in his doorway a moment later and asked the two of them to come into his office. He gestured for them to take a seat in front of his desk as he closed the door behind them.

"I just got a call from Mr. McDade at McDade Marketing. He believes one of his employees is embezzling money from the company, but doesn't know who's doing it. I was thinking with your experience in the fraud unit in San Francisco, this would be the perfect case for you," Leo explained as he looked at Veronica.

Veronica shot Norris a quick look. "Todd McCade?" she asked looking back at Leo.

"No," he looked down at the paper on his desk. "Mr. Tom McCade." Veronica nodded in reply. She knew that Tom was Todd's father. Back in her 09er days, Todd would frequently be on the fringes of her main group of friends, so they would interact from time to time. Given they'd had classes together on and off from the time she started first grade, they'd also occasionally end up in alphabetical lines together. She'd seen him around Hearst a few times before she left for Stanford as well and had heard he was majoring in marketing so he could go to work for his dad's firm. It was probably unlikely he was actually running it already since he would have only graduated the year before as well. Logan and Todd hadn't ever been particularly close, but she thought he had been better friends with Dick. "I told them I'd be sending two deputies over to talk with them. Sacks and Burns are on duty this morning too, so they should be able to handle calls as they come in, but keep your phones on in case we need any extra help." Leo handed Veronica a slip of paper with the address to the company as the two of them stood up and headed out of his office.

They spent a better part of the morning at the marketing firm talking first with Tom McCade and then with other employees. Tom's main accountant had determined that at least $400,000 had been stolen, but he hadn't been able to determine who had taken it. Of course Tom was extremely anxious to recover the stolen funds and seek justice against the culprit. Tom had approved giving Veronica full access to their computer systems so she would have a better chance of determining who was skimming off the company profits. She was actually excited to get a case that would allow her to use some of the skills she'd learned working for the fraud unit in San Francisco. Although given the marketing company was quite large and employed nearly 100 people, she realized it may take a while to uncover who was actually committing the crime.

Todd had indeed started working for his father after he graduated from Hearst and of course immediately recognized Veronica and Norris when they stopped in to talk with him. They briefly reminisced about some of their time at Neptune High, before discussing the case at hand. Todd volunteered his time to help them in any way that he could. She was a little suspicious of his motives though, because if he was guilty he could just want to point her in the wrong direction. She knew she could check into him first and if she didn't find anything suspicious with his bank accounts, that she should be able to trust him for the most part. She knew having someone with inside information could be helpful, and given his family's wealth she suspected he probably already had a sizeable trust fund and wouldn't need to skim money off his father in that way. The company's systems were set up to allow remote access, so after spending the morning at the firm, she decided to relocate back to the sheriff's office to do some more digging. Norris let her know that he was happy to help in any way he could, but admitted this was not his area of expertise.

She spent the afternoon tracing through various accounting records while she had Norris work on pulling financial records for all of the employees and doing background checks as well. It turned out she was right about Todd. He had a very impressive trust fund that he already had access too and they didn't find anything suspicious with his accounts at all, so using him as an inside source shouldn't cause any issues. She was pretty absorbed in looking at her screen when she heard a light knocking on her desk. She looked up to see Sebastian standing there smiling down at her.

"Hey, I didn't want to startle you. You looked pretty captivated by whatever you're looking at there," he said with the same charming smile that he'd had the day before.

"Hi," she replied as she gave him a friendly smile. "Are you here to see a client again?"

"Actually…" he paused a moment and leaned a little closer to her. "I was here to see if I could talk you into having lunch with me again."

She glanced past him and saw Norris giving her a curious look. "You are persistent, aren't you?" she replied in an almost flippant tone.

"I find it's a helpful trait to have as a lawyer," he replied back, unfazed by her response. He gave her a sly smile. "I have lots of other equally valuable traits as well."

She'd meant to ask her dad about Sebastian since he'd said they'd worked together, but of course hadn't had a chance to yet. She wasn't sure how much to go by Logan's reaction to him and wanted to get another opinion of him before she decided to form her own. Logan of course hadn't been a fan of lawyers even back when he was younger, so she wasn't surprised at all that he wouldn't like the guy. Not to mention, Sebastian seemed to be almost as charismatic as Logan could be and she couldn't help but wonder how much he just saw him as a threat in general. She glanced at the time on her phone. It was 1:00 and she hadn't actually had a chance to have lunch yet. "I'm not sure what our plans are for lunch." She glanced over at Norris and he just shrugged in reply.

"If you wanted to take a break, that's fine. I brought some left over pizza for my lunch, so wasn't planning to go out."

"So?" Sebastian asked with a hopeful smile. "What do you say? We can grab a quick bite to eat at the deli across the street."

Veronica smiled and nodded in reply. She was actually starting to get really hungry and didn't think a casual lunch could do any harm. _It's not like it's a dinner date with the guy anyway._ "Alright, but I have my cell phone Norris, so if anything comes up, just call me and I'll be right back over."

Norris nodded and gave her a half smile. She got the impression he wasn't a big fan of Sebastian either, but he wasn't as overt about it as Logan had been. She grabbed her phone and her bag and followed him toward the door. He stopped and held it open for her giving her a smile that she was sure he used to win over jurors on a regular basis as she walked past him out into the warm breeze. She'd noticed the day before when he'd gone to the back with Logan that he was probably 5 inches shorter than Logan, making him only about 6 inches taller than she was. Once they were out of the station in the sunshine, she also noticed how green his eyes actually were. He had dark hair that was obviously professionally trimmed and he clearly knew how to work with it and put in the effort to style it meticulously. She couldn't quite ignore the fact that he looked very much like the actor Jenson Ackles, other than the height difference of course._ So yeah, despite Logan's warning about him possibly being a slimy lawyer, he was still extremely hot. Oh Veronica, you certainly have a weakness for handsome dark haired slightly bad guys don't you._

They placed their orders at the counter, with him insisting on paying even though she briefly suggested she get her own, and then they went and took a seat at one of the tables in a corner. He carried the tray with their sandwiches while she offered to carry their drinks.

"Thanks for joining me," he said as they were organizing their food on the table. "I was worried Echolls was going to have you completely turned against me by now. He doesn't like me much."

Veronica chuckled a bit nervously. "Well I think he doesn't like lawyers in general, so I wouldn't take it too personally."

Sebastian laughed a bit louder and shook his head. "Oh no, I'm pretty sure it's personal." Veronica quirked her eyebrow in a 'do continue' sort of way, and he nodded before he started to talk again. "I guess it's been almost two years now, but one of the cases I was working on resulted in him getting suspended for a couple months and since then I'd say things have remained pretty strained at best."

_So much for staying off the topic of Logan today. First Norris this morning, now Sebastian. Maybe you should just change the topic Veronica. Ask what law school he went to… where he grew up… does he have any hobbies… pets? _"What happened?" _Damn it._

Sebastian's smile changed slightly, apparently more than happy to share his side of the story with her. "Just your typical excessive force incident." Veronica tried not to react externally to his response. "This guy I was hired to represent was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, and Echolls was the arresting officer. The woman never pressed charges, but my client did."

"Oh," Veronica said looking down at her food as a worrisome feeling coursed through her body. Unfortunately she knew that part of Logan. She had wondered when she first heard he was a deputy whether he'd changed enough to keep that part of himself under control_. At least two years ago, apparently not. _If it had been something that frequently happened though, she would imagine he would have been permanently let go, so he must have gotten better at controlling it. She could imagine that he may have had to go to counseling when he was suspended as well.

"Look Veronica," Sebastian continued in a slightly lower tone, perhaps sensing her unease. He reached over and gently put is hand on top of hers. His touch was surprising calming though, compared to what she would have expected. He gently rested it on her own while he looked intently at her with a softer expression than he'd had a moment before. "I really do try to avoid cases where I have to defend some of the total garbage in this town, but I don't always get a say in the matter. It's my job though to be sure every one of our clients gets fair representation. I'm not the one that caused Echolls to do what he did, I just had to follow my legal duty and report it though."

Veronica gave him a half smile and nodded. "Did it go to trial?"

Sebastian shook his head. "No my client settled with Echolls getting suspended for two months. There may not have been enough evidence for it to turn out in his favor anyway and the Sheriff worked out a deal with the DA." Sebastian let out a huff of air as he pulled his hand away to grab for his iced tea. "Okay, talking about Echolls was not what I had in mind for spending time with you. So tell me where you were working before you came back to town. I knew Keith had a daughter, but I never heard exactly what you were doing."

Veronica nodded and let out her own deep breath. "I was working with a fraud unit up with the San Francisco PD for the past year after graduating from Stanford."

Sebastian's smile became larger again. "I tried to get into Stanford law school, but had to settle for Berkeley. I actually grew up in San Mateo. Not quite as nice year round weather as we have down here though. That's one thing I definitely don't miss living down here now... the fog… the rain."

"Well Berkeley's still a pretty great law school. And yeah, the weather up there isn't quite as nice as down here, but it wasn't so bad."

They spent the rest of lunch talking about her time in the Bay Area and various places they'd both been to there. Getting off the topics of Logan and Sebastian being a lawyer definitely improved their dynamic and she found herself actually really enjoying the rest of their short lunch break. It was almost refreshing to talk to someone who had lived in both locations as well and could relate to some of the cultural differences and idiocies she'd noticed during her four years there. She quickly realized that they had a lot of the same likes and dislikes and that he was definitely a bit more snarky than she'd realized in their brief interaction at the station the day before.

He walked with her across the street back toward the station, but stopped as they neared the steps up to the building. "I'd better get back to my office. Thanks again for agreeing to have lunch with me. I'd love to do it again sometime."

Veronica nodded and gave him a genuine smile. "Yeah, thanks and I'd like that too."

He flashed a smile back at her and nodded as he gave her a little wave and walked toward the parking lot. She was actually surprised that he hadn't pressed her for a second date or even to get her phone number. He'd come across so charismatic and forward the day before when they'd first met that she'd been expecting him to push for a commitment for a second date before they parted ways. It was actually really nice to not have to deal with that pressure though.

She headed inside and gave Norris a small smile as she walked by him. "How was lunch?" he asked as she sat down at her desk.

"It was nice. Sebastian grew up in the Bay Area, so we mostly talked about that," she explained as she logged into her laptop and got back to work on the embezzlement case. He nodded in reply, but she could easily tell he really didn't care for Sebastian either. She wondered if he didn't like him because of Logan's suspension. _Well you've already shot your idea of not talking about Logan at all today to hell, so might as well ask some questions to see what else you can learn now._ "Were you and Logan ever partners?" she asked as she looked back up at him after a few minutes of staring at her screen.

Norris gave her a knowing smile and nodded. "Yeah, we were paired up with a couple of more senior deputies when we first started, but then we ended up partnering up after that. It's just been the last 6 months or so that Leo started pairing us up with some of the newer deputies."

Veronica knew how close a lot of partners ended up getting. She wasn't terribly surprised that he'd be protective of Logan's secrets due to that and that he'd want to look out for him too. _That's enough information for now. If I want Norris to trust me too, I certainly can't push him to betray Logan's confidence._ She really was here to do her job and the fact that Logan was also a deputy was just coincidental. She'd decided this was something she wanted to do before she even knew he was here, so she certainly didn't want to mess anything up because of her unresolved feelings for him. She gave Norris a quick nod and then turned back to her laptop again.

It was getting late in the afternoon when she got a text from Mac asking what her plans were for the evening. She wondered if Norris had mentioned bowling to her after Veronica left Cho's and if she was actually fishing for an invite to come along. Veronica felt a little guilty about not going if Mac was thinking she'd tag along to hang out with Norris, but she also felt like she needed a break from all the guys that had suddenly popped into her life. It would also be nice to have some girl only time and maybe she'd get a bit more back story on everyone to make things a little easier on herself. She decided if Mac really did want to go and hang out with Norris, she could just do it on her own, or suggest it and since she hadn't, Veronica wouldn't read anything else into the question. They ended up making plans to have dinner together when they were both off work. Veronica's shift was earlier than the day before, so she was going to be off at 5:00 which lined up well for when Mac would be off work too.

She spent the rest of the afternoon working on the embezzlement case, going over the records that Norris had pulled together for her in addition to going through more of their computer records. She had just started looking through a stack of background checks when Norris commented that it was already 5:00.

"I'm just going to finish up a few more of these," she told him as he was standing up and putting his jacket on. Mac was working until 5:30, so she thought she'd just stay another thirty minutes before she left as well. "Have fun bowling tonight and good luck."

Norris nodded in return. "Thanks, have a good evening yourself." He paused a moment before he continued. "And if you talk to Mac, tell her I said hi." Veronica felt a shot of guilt pass through her, but nodded and said goodbye as he headed toward the door.

She returned to what she was reading after he left. She was in the middle of organizing all the files when Leo came out of his office a short while later. "So you're coming bowling tonight right?" he asked with a tone that seemed more of a directive than just him being inquisitive.

"Actually I wasn't planning on it," she replied with a tentative smile.

"Jane was really looking forward to seeing you. At least stop by and say hi to her for me." The expression on his face reminded her of when her dad was giving her ultimatums that she really didn't have any choice but to accept.

Veronica let out a deep sigh. She was actually a little surprised Jane wanted to see her, although she wasn't the one who caused the breakup with her and Wallace either. "I'll try to stop by with Mac after we have dinner."

Leo smiled broadly and nodded. "Great. See you later then."

_Yeah, like I have a choice._ She smiled back and gave him a little wave as he continued out of the station to the back parking lot.

Mac picked her up at her dad's house at 6:00 and they headed to a newer restaurant in town that had gotten great reviews for both their vegan and non-vegan dishes. Mac had called ahead and made a reservation for them, but their table wasn't quite ready yet, so they wandered into the bar area to have a drink while they waited. Veronica immediately caught sight of a very familiar tattoo, but couldn't quite tell who Weevil had his arm around in the dimly lit booth.

"Hey, I see Weevil over there. I'm just going to go say hi," she announced as she hopped off her bar stool. "I'll be right back."

Mac nodded in reply as she took another drink of her scotch.

"Hey there," Veronica said when she was close enough so he'd hear her. Unfortunately the pair had just leaned in to kiss right before she spoke, and they both seemed to freeze and then turn in her direction.

Veronica took in a surprised gasp of air as she saw Wanda Varner staring back at her. She suddenly wasn't so surprised about why Weevil had been a bit sketchy at her birthday party. He'd likely been aware of their little fallout in high school, which was probably why he hadn't mentioned Wanda to her. Suddenly she had a flashback to Wanda asking her about Lilly and Weevil, back before she realized there actually had been something between them. She hadn't thought much about it at the time, but wondered now if even back then, if Wanda had been interested in him.

"Veronica," Wanda said with an almost bitchy smile. "Eli mentioned you were back in town. I suppose it was only a matter of time before our paths crossed." She moved her left hand that was located under the table likely on Weevil's thigh, to place it on top of the table, revealing an engagement ring on her finger.

Veronica's eyes widened in surprise and she glanced at Weevil. "Well, congratulations are in order I see."

Weevil ducked his head slightly and nodded before looking back up at her. "Yeah, we haven't told a lot of people yet. I haven't even told your dad yet."

"Well I'll leave that dubious honor to you," she said with a grim smile.

Weevil's lips quirked up into a half smile and he shook his head slightly. He glanced over her shoulder, likely to see who she was there with.

"No Echolls tonight?" Weevil asked with a smirk. "I figured with you back in town, the two of you crashing back together was inevitable. Especially now that you're working together." Wanda quirked an eyebrow as well and gave Weevil a sly smile.

Veronica narrowed her eyes at him. "We're just friends now," she explained with a firm tone. Mac walked over at that moment and placed a hand on Veronica's shoulder.

"Our table's ready if you are," she said with a friendly smile. "Hey Wanda… Eli." Veronica couldn't help but notice she didn't seem terribly surprised at who was at the table with Weevil. She also couldn't help but notice she called him Eli either.

"Have a nice night you two," Veronica said as cheerily as she could before she turned and followed Mac to their table.

"Did you know they were engaged?" Veronica asked as they sat down at the table.

Mac grimaced slightly and nodded. "Yeah, Wanda works in the PR department where I work and we run into each other from time to time. I actually just bumped into her this morning though and saw the ring."

Veronica let out a small sigh and nodded. "So what other deep dark secrets are you hiding from me _Ms. Mackenzie_?"

Mac shrugged and gave her an apologetic look. "I'm not intentionally keeping anything from you if that's what you're thinking. I didn't know that you hadn't heard the two of them were an item. I figured your dad may have mentioned it. They've been together about a year now I think. So honestly, I'm really not trying to keep anything from you on purpose."

_Fine, let's test that._ "Okay if that's the case, what exactly did Brendan mean last night when he said he didn't think I was Logan's type?" Mac bit nervously on her lip and gave Veronica a concerned look before Veronica continued on. "What sort of women has Logan been dating while I've been gone besides just Bex because it seemed to be more of a comment about women he'd dated in general than just a comparison to her. And the way Brandon looked at you makes me think you had a pretty good idea about what he was talking about."

"I don't know _all_ the women Logan's dated," Mac started to protest slightly. "Are you sure you even want to know? Maybe it's better to just let things be." Veronica gave her an unbelieving look and scoffed slightly. "Right… Veronica Mars, letting something be… what was I thinking?" Mac replied as she rolled her eyes. Veronica smiled and nodded, waiting for her to continue.

When she didn't though, Veronica thought she should prompt her again. "Brandon made it sound like there were other women besides Bex who weren't very nice."

Mac shrugged. "Well he may have been generalizing on the definition of nice…" Veronica's look became slightly puzzled at that and she shook her head obviously not understanding what that meant. "Okay, so I do know one of the women he was dating before Bex was a stripper, so perhaps he meant 'nice' as in 'pure' in that case. I think she was actually a _nice_ stripper though and not a witch like Bex is."

Veronica's eyes opened a bit wider. _Is_ _that really that surprising, Veronica? Logan didn't always have the best judgment in women in the past either. Kendall Casablancas was definitely proof of that._ "And…" she prompted Mac since she seemed to have gone silent again, and she doubted it was just one other woman that Brandon was referring to.

"Then there was Molly," Mac replied with a grimaced expression as she fidgeted with her hands.

"Molly?" Veronica asked, not exactly sure who Molly was and then it hit her. "Molly Fitzpatrick?" she asked with her eyes opened even wider than before. Mac cringed and nodded. "Oh my God! Did he have a fucking death wish?" Veronica blurted out, and then covered her mouth with her hand realizing what she'd said. She took a deep breath and shook her head. "Sorry. I just…" She wasn't really sure how to react to that. "What was he thinking though?"

Mac shrugged in reply. "Yeah, a deputy dating a Fitzpatrick wasn't exactly smart on either of their parts. I wouldn't say it was '_dating_' like go out for fancy dinners and discuss moving in together '_dating_' though. But word gets around you know? And I think it actually started before he became a deputy."

Veronica sat there absorbing what Mac had just told her as the waitress came over to take their drink order. She decided she'd better focus on the menu to figure out what she wanted to eat before the waitress returned with the drinks. _Logan and Molly Fitzpatrick?_ Given the whole fallout over Felix, she would never in a million years have expected that to happen. Although she also would never have expected Weevil to be with Wanda either. _And if it started before he became a deputy, did that mean it was right after I left or even before that? I wonder if it was after I left him that stupid letter. Did the issue that happened last week at the River Stix have to do with Molly?_

After the waitress left Mac gave her a compassionate look. "I'm sorry Veronica. Maybe it was better not knowing?"

Veronica shrugged in reply. "Yeah. Well thanks anyway. I'm the one who made you tell me, so don't feel bad." She narrowed her eyes again at Mac which seemed to make her a bit nervous. "Any other big surprises I should know about? You didn't hook up with anyone questionable while I was away did you?" Mac laughed and shook her head.

"No, you know Max and I dated on and off and then there were a few other guys at Hearst, but no one that you would have known. More guys in my computer science classes and no one from Neptune High."

Veronica nodded then another thought struck her. "How about Wallace? He seemed to be avoiding that topic the other night too."

Mac slumped down a bit and shrugged.

"You know you really don't hold up well under interrogation Mac," Veronica replied with a laugh.

"Yeah," she replied with a small smile. "Good thing I was only Q and not out in the field like you."

"So, who's Wallace dating that he doesn't want me to know about?" Veronica asked getting her back on point, before she let out a slight gasp. "Please tell me it's not Jackie again?"

Mac smiled and shook her head. "No not that bad." She took a deep breath and cringed a bit before she continued. "They aren't like an official couple and have really only started dating each other in the last month or so, whenever they are both in town. She has a job that takes her out of town a lot too, just like Wallace, which is actually how they ran across each other. I mean they literally bumped into each other on a flight back to San Diego from Seattle. Like he was trying to put his bag in the overhead bin and she bumped right into him while she was looking for her seat. And then they turned out to be sitting next to each other and spent the entire flight getting to know each other. It's a bit romantic really if you think about it."

"Spill already," Veronica blurted out, growing impatient with the waiting.

"Amira Krimani," Mac replied hesitantly.

"Oh… wow…" Veronica was almost as speechless about that as all the other unusual pairings she'd just learned about. Amira was gorgeous though, and she could easily imagine Wallace being totally smitten with her. Amira also wasn't terribly happy with Veronica when she was helping her parents with the graffiti problem at their restaurant, though in the end she didn't think they parted on terrible terms. Although she didn't stop her dad from finding out about the college boyfriend he didn't approve of either. She wondered if Wallace was keeping it a secret from her because it was still new, or if he was worried about how the two of them would react to each other.

The waitress returned with their drinks and they gave her their dinner orders. After she walked off Mac gave her a concerned look. "You doing okay there Bond?"

Veronica nodded. "Any other bombshells you haven't dropped yet?"

Mac thought about and slowly shook her head. "I don't think so."

Veronica nodded in reply and then remembered what she'd forgotten to tell Mac. "Oh, I forgot to mention when you picked me up…" Veronica started to explain. "Leo sort of demanded that I stop by the bowling alley tonight and at least make an appearance. He said Jane really wanted to say hi. If you don't want to go, I can drive back over, but I thought you might like a chance to see Norris again."

Mac couldn't seem to help letting a small smile form on her lips. "Yeah, sure… No problem."

Veronica smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, somehow I didn't think you'd actually mind."

_**A/N – Thought I'd share a little trivia about the McDade's. I was trying to figure out someone random from the show to have own the marketing firm and came across Todd McDade. His name is called a few names before Veronica's when they graduate from Neptune High in episode 2X22. Mandy was also baby sitting for a Ryder McDade in episode 1X19, in an 09er neighborhood, so I'm going to assume Ryder was Todd's little brother. Todd McDade's name also shows up in the email list for the people that Dick forwarded Veronica's video on to in episode 3x20 with a Hearst email account. **_

_**And I did mention at the very beginning that I had planned on some unusual pairings in this story. So now that you've seen more of those, I'd love to hear other opinions on all of them. Let me know what you thought of the ones uncovered in this chapter.**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback so far! Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 11

Veronica and Mac stayed away from discussing all the odd pairings for the rest of dinner. Veronica decided to mention her lunch date with Sebastian though to find out if Mac knew anything about him, thinking a non-cop's perspective might be good to have. "So do you know Sebastian too?" Veronica asked after giving her a quick summary of their lunch. A small smile crossed Mac's face and she nodded. "Of course you do," Veronica said with a little huff and shook her head with a sly smile on her face. _Are there any bachelor's in Neptune she doesn't know?_

"Our company has had to go to court over some patent infringements, and so I've actually worked with him several times on those," Mac explained.

"So he doesn't just defend the scum of Neptune?" Veronica asked, slightly surprised by that.

Mac looked a little caught off guard with her question and shook her head. "No his firm handles other things too. I suppose he might have had to take a few less desirable cases, but normally I think he avoids those. Although maybe when he started with the firm he didn't get as much choice in what cases he had to take on. I've only worked with him over the last year of course."

"You seem to know him quite well though," Veronica asked with an eyebrow quirked.

Mac shrugged. "Like I said, I've worked with him on several patent cases, so we've talked quite a bit."

Veronica chuckled. "And talked about more things than just patent cases?"

Mac blushed slightly before she answered. "Well he's extremely good looking, can you blame me?"

Veronica laughed and shook her head. "No, you're right. I was actually surprised that he seemed to come on so strong and then he didn't even ask for my phone number at lunch."

Mac chuckled. "Well he does know where you work, so I suppose it wouldn't be hard for him to reach you if he wanted to."

Veronica nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She paused a moment before continuing. "Logan certainly doesn't like him at all." Mac gave her a knowing look and nodded as well.

"I was still at Hearst when that happened, but I did hear a little about it. Not all the details though, just about Logan getting suspended. Actually I guess Sebastian was the one who told me about it. I was doing some work at the Sheriff's department when he came in and we started talking and Logan made some snide comment and so the two of us talked about it later." Mac gave Veronica a mischievous look. "So should we add another name to the quickly growing list of suitors who are chasing after you?"

Veronica laughed and shook her head. _So many suitors, but not the one she had really hoped for when she came back to Neptune._

They finally finished up their dinners and drove over to the bowling alley. Mac was telling her about how her little brother Ryan was doing in middle school as they were walking up to the door. Veronica was paying more attention to Mac's story than where she was going and almost walked into someone who came around the corner from the other direction quickly.

"Sorry," they both said at the same time and then froze in their tracks for a moment.

"Hi. I um… I didn't think you were coming tonight," Logan finally said with a confused expression after just staring at her for a few seconds.

Veronica took in a sharp breath. "Well I could leave if that would make you happy," she snapped back quickly with an annoyed expression on her face.

"No… that's… that's not what I meant at all. I was just surprised to see you here." He quickly glanced at Mac. "Hey Mac." She nodded and gave him an awkward little wave.

He opened the door for them and gestured for them to go in. Veronica took a deep breath and walked past him with Mac trailing slightly behind her. _Did he only come because he thought I wouldn't be here? Did Norris tell him that because he'd left before Leo talked to me and insisted that I stop by?_

"They're usually down at that end," Logan said pointing toward the far end of the bowling alley. She gave him a curt nod and started walking in that direction.

"Hey speedy," he called after her. "Do you want me to grab you a pair of shoes? Size 6 right?"

Veronica stopped and took a quick breath before turning back toward him. "I'm not sure I'll bowl, but sure." She nodded. "And yeah, size 6." _Come on Veronica, why are you so angry at him? What has he actually done wrong? And did he actually remember my shoe size or was that just a lucky guess? _

He gave her a nervous smile and nodded back. "How about you Mac? Did you want to be an honorary deputy and bowl on our team?"

Mac shook her head. "I think I'll just stick to watching tonight, but thanks Logan."

He nodded again and Veronica turned and headed in the direction he'd pointed with Mac trailing right behind her again. She was trying not to be angry, but the _shocked to see her and not in a good way_ look was hard to just ignore. The place was extremely crowded, and it took them a few minutes to spot the group. Leo was the first to see them and waved at them causing a few other heads to turn in their direction. One of which was Brandon who had a slightly uneasy smile on his face when he spotted her. Veronica knew she'd feel horrible seeing him again after her reaction the night before and seeing the look on his face definitely didn't make her feel any better. He really did seem like a nice guy who certainly didn't deserve to have her get mad about something that wasn't even really his fault. All of a sudden it hit her how similar he was to Piz. Nothing that went wrong between them was really Piz's fault either.

"Hey Veronica, I see you changed your mind," Norris said as she walked over by where they were all congregated.

"Yeah," she replied shooting a little glare at Leo. "Someone strongly suggested I stop by."

Norris smirked slightly and nodded in understanding.

"Hi Veronica," Brandon chimed in next. "Nice to see you decided to drop by."

Veronica nodded and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, you know the allure of bowling was just too great to pass up," she replied with a sarcastic smirk, drawing a soft chuckle from him. Jane was the next one to greet her.

"Veronica!" Jane said cheerfully as she stood up from her chair and gave her a big hug. "I couldn't believe it when Leo told me you wanted to come back and join the Sheriff's department. It's so good to see you again."

Veronica was a bit caught off guard by how excited and friendly she was but nodded and smiled in return.

"Hi Mac, so good to see you too," Jane said, moving on to hug Mac next. Mac gave Veronica a small smirk over Jane's shoulder.

Logan walked up behind them a moment later carrying two pairs of bowling shoes.

"Logan," Jane said with a warm smile. "I didn't expect to see you tonight." She went over and gave him a hug as well. _Wow, when did Jane turn into such a hugger?_ Logan tried to awkwardly hug her back while he was still holding the shoes.

"Yeah, I ended up back in town earlier than I expected, so thought I'd come on over." Logan explained as Jane took a step back.

"Shoes?" Logan said with a humble smile as he held out the smaller pair for Veronica.

"Thanks," she said taking them from him and awkwardly holding them as she stood there not quite sure what she should do next. She couldn't help but notice a slight change in Brandon's expression. _Did he think the two of us actually came together since he brought over the shoes for me? Would that really matter if we had? Or more to the point, do I really care? Ugh, why am I such a horrible person sometimes?_

"Hey, you two should bowl in the next game. We're almost done with this one," Doug chimed in as he came back from throwing a strike and noticed they were both there and holding shoes.

"I don't know," Veronica said hesitantly. She wished she'd just told Logan not to get the shoes for her now. "I'm not really very good and it looks like you guys have been doing well and I'd hate to blow your winning streak."

"Don't be modest," Logan quickly chimed in. "You're a decent bowler Veronica. I've seen Leo bowl and I'm sure you can do better than he's been doing."

Leo chuckled and gave Logan a slight glare. "Yeah, well we can't all be natural athletes like you." Leo said looking at Logan, but then he turned back to Veronica with a warmer smile. "You and Logan can take the place of Jane and me in the next game. Or we can alternate frames if you decide you don't want to do all 10. We aren't super strict on rules around here."

"Sounds good," Logan said looking at Veronica with an optimistic expression.

Veronica let out a sigh and nodded. "Sure, but maybe just a few frames."

"Thanks!' Jane chimed in. "I could really use a break for a little while." She went back to her seat with Leo following her. He took the empty spot right next to her and leaned in to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek before wrapping his arm around her.

Veronica grabbed an open seat and started taking off her shoes to put on the bowling ones as Logan sat down right next to her to do the same. "I hope I'm not in too much trouble for pushing you into doing this?" he asked with a nervous smile on his face.

She let out a sigh and shook her head. "No, it's fine." She couldn't help but remember the last time they'd bowled together at Hearst. Back before all their horrible breakups and all the drama they went through that year. She swallowed a small lump in her throat and continued working on her shoes. When she was finished she noticed Mac and Norris were standing off to the side talking with shy giddy smiles on their faces. Even if she was having a less than ideal time, the two of them were certainly enjoying themselves.

After a few quick introductions of Veronica to the other firefighters that she hadn't met yet, they started the next game. Brandon talked with her a few times in between frames and congratulated her when she got a strike. It still felt like there was a bit of animosity between the two of them, but as the game went on, it seemed like that was disappearing slowly. If he had been apprehensive because it looked like she had arrived with Logan, the way Logan was keeping his distance from her must have helped Brandon feel more at ease. _Is Logan doing that on purpose because he noticed Brandon's reaction too?_

Between frames Logan would go and sit by Jane and Leo and the three of them seemed to be engaged in quite a lively discussion as they had to keep interrupting him when it was his turn to bowl. She tried not to just watch them, but found herself feeling like a bit of an outsider with the way Jane and Logan seemed to have such a friendly connection. She noticed that Leo had gone over to talk with someone at one of the other lanes and Logan and Jane had continued talking just as they had when Leo was still there. _Will Logan and I ever get back to being that comfortable just being friends and talking?_ She briefly thought back to before Lilly had died, when they were really close as friends and would hang out sometimes when the Kane siblings weren't around. After Lilly had died, they'd become enemies, then they dived into being together which was the beginning of their on and off again string of relationships and she couldn't really remember another time when they'd just gotten back to being close friends outside of being in a relationship together.

Besides talking a little with Brandon, Doug also talked with her quite a bit and turned out to be quite the cheerleader for their team. He also gave her advice on the best place to aim when it was her turn to go, especially when she was taking her second shot of a frame. He wasn't shy about getting right up behind her and pointing in front of her toward where she should aim. Mac and Norris sat next to each other and were also quite engaged in their own discussion when Norris wasn't up taking his turn. As the game went on though, Veronica started to feel even more out of place for some reason and she started to slowly move back farther away from the group each time after her turn was over, although she tried not to make it too obvious. She couldn't quite forget her earlier conversation with Mac, and how so many things were completely different than what she'd expected when she decided to come home.

She had just taken a turn and moved back to the spot in the back when she caught Logan looking at her with a concerned expression on his face. He leaned in and said something to Jane, who smiled and nodded and then he walked over toward her.

"I see you've got you're '_I'd rather be strapped down on an ant hill_' expression on," he said with a slight smile. "What's up Mars?"

She shook her head and smiled briefly at the reminder. "Nothing." _Nothing I really want to discuss with you, since you're one of the issues I have at the moment._ "And this is clearly my 'I'd rather be spelunking' expression," she added as pointed to her face.

He smiled for a moment and then quirked an eyebrow at her, evidently not buying it. "Hey, I still owe you a birthday drink, don't I?" She shrugged, but smiled a bit more. He gestured with his head toward the bar in the back of the bowling alley. "Wanna go get one now?"

"Sure," she said with a small nod.

"Hey Leo," Logan said turning back toward the other couple. "Can you and Jane fill in for us? We're going to go back and get a quick drink."

Leo and Jane both nodded and smiled at them. Logan turned back to Veronica and waved his hand in front of him, indicating that she should lead the way.

The bar was fairly crowded, but they were able to find two seats at the far end of the bar. The bartender came over and took their order a few minutes after they'd sat down and handed them each a beer.

"So, what's going through that enigmatic mind of yours?" Logan asked with a curious expression.

Veronica laughed softly and shook her head. "I don't know. It's just… it's been sort of a strange day."

"Hm… strange like seeing flying saucers strange or talking animals strange?" Logan asked with a smirk.

Veronica laughed softly at first, but then her expression became more solemn. "No, it's just… I don't know…" she let out a deep sigh. "I just didn't expect to feel so out of place coming back."

Logan gave her a warm smile. "Well Neptune didn't exactly just stand still in the absence of the great Veronica Mars." She let out a sigh and nodded. _Yeah but absolutely nothing really seems to have stayed the same_. "Hey, I heard you and Norris got a new case today."

Veronica swallowed a drink of her beer and nodded. _How very not surprising that he already knew that. She wondered if he had always kept such close tabs on what was going on at the station, or if it was different because she was there now._ "So you heard I had lunch with Sebastian too then?"

Logan shook his head and looked a bit surprised. "No, just heard about the case." He paused a moment and let out a little huff of air before he finally continued. "It sounds like the case fits nicely with the work you did in San Francisco."

Veronica let out a sigh and nodded. _Fuck, why did I have to mention Sebastian?_ _Why do I seem to make things worse than they really should be with Logan? Well if he's going to hopefully ignore it so will I. _"Yeah, I worked on several cases like that when I was up in the Bay Area, so it's nice to have something familiar to work on here already."

Logan nodded and took another drink of his beer. "How'd you like living up there? I spent several months in San Francisco with my mom when she was working on a movie there. I think I was probably 10 or so. It was a few years before we moved to Neptune at least. I really liked it there though." He chuckled bitterly. "Of course Aaron was working on a movie in Europe at the time, so I suppose I just liked anywhere that he wasn't. And an added bonus was that Trina had gone with him to Europe too."

Veronica gave him an understanding smile and nodded. "I liked it there, though I did really miss my dad… and my friends." She couldn't help the regretful expression that crossed her face.

He gave her a compassionate smile before he continued talking. "Did you do much touristy stuff? You know… visit Alcatraz or ride the cable cars? I talked my mom into taking me to Alcatraz one afternoon when she wasn't shooting. Visiting that when I was only 9 or 10 probably wasn't a great idea. I had nightmares about it for a few days and she wasn't very happy about it." He chuckled softly and shook his head as he shared that with her.

Veronica gave him a fond smile and nodded. "Yeah, I did a few things like that. I had a roommate at the dorm my first year there that was from Seattle and she was big on experiencing all the local sites, so she'd drag me out places whether I wanted to go or not."

"Did you two stay friends after your first year?" Logan asked watching her with a soft expression on his face. _God I've missed this so much. Just talking to him about everyday, normal little things. _

"Yeah, actually we did. Her name's Stephanie. She moved back to Seattle after graduating though. We ended up renting an apartment for the last two years we were there. She was an engineering major, so we didn't have classes together, but actually got along really well. We've kept in touch through email and phone calls since graduation."

"Well I'd love to meet someone who survived living with you for three years," he said with a teasing expression on his face. "She must be the most patient and understanding person on the planet."

She chuckled and shook her head at him. "Hey, I'm not that difficult to be around!" He shrugged and looked down at the bar before looking back up at her with a broader smile. "She actually mentioned wanting to come visit me here in Neptune when she gets a break from the job she accepted after graduation. Then I'll have living proof that I'm a joy to live with."

He laughed and looked at her skeptically. "But how will I know she's actually who you say she is, and not someone you just paid off or blackmailed to pretend to be your friend?" he asked skeptically with a smirk.

She laughed and rolled her eyes at him. "I'll be sure to bring some photographic proof of our adventures together over the years we lived together."

He sighed and shook his head. "Right… like Veronica Mars couldn't easily photo-shop something together like that." He tapped his finger on his chin for a second with a wicked grin. "I'm thinking… polygraph."

Veronica laughed again. "Oh, that will go over well… Hey Steph… you don't mind being hooked up to this lie detector to prove to my asinine friend here that we actually enjoyed living together during college."

He laughed and gave her a mischievous grin as he leaned a bit closer to her. "Well I suppose asinine friend is an improvement over just being called an ass."

She let out small huff of air. "You know I didn't mean that yesterday right? I was just frustrated with you."

Logan shrugged but kept the grin. "Well I was being an ass, so I deserved it. You don't have to apologize for that."

She nodded and narrowed her eyes at him. "So tell me… how did you come to be one of the owners of Luigi's?"

"Well…" he glanced down at the bar for a few seconds with what almost looked like an embarrassed expression before looking back at her. "You know… obviously we'd eaten there several times…" She nodded in agreement. _Yeah, more than just a few._ "Well I guess a little over a year ago I was picking up dinner there and got to talking with the owner who happened to be working the counter because they were short staffed that night. They'd been having a tough time with business since a new Italian food chain restaurant had opened and he was lamenting maybe closing since he wasn't dong very well trying to compete with them. Being a small family owned restaurant, he didn't really have the capital to advertise the way they needed to, so I don't know…" He shrugged before he continued again. "I thought it was as good as an investment as some of the other shit I'd actually lost money on, so I offered to invest and help him out. I actually hired McDade Marketing to work for us too." Veronica gave him a knowing look and nodded. "Todd owed me a favor and he got his dad to agree to let him manage the account and he gave us a good rate on the work he did for us. The chain didn't really turn out all that great once the newness wore off and in no time at all Luigi's was back to being popular, thanks to Todd's work too of course. I'm not making huge returns on my investment, but I'm still glad that I did it. And getting free lasagna a few times a month isn't so bad either."

"That's really great Logan," she replied with a genuinely appreciative expression. "It's always tough when smaller family owned businesses get demolished by inferior chain versions. See, I told you that you weren't really an ass."

He nodded and looked down at his drink again before looking back up at her. For a moment she thought she saw an expression that was more intense than he'd had when he was telling her about Luigi's, but then it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. "So did you make much progress on the McDade case today?" _Okay, and we're back to shop talk again. I guess that's as personal as he's going to get for now._

"Not yet. But I do enjoy following the money you know."

Logan nodded and glanced down at the bar again. "Yeah, I remember," he replied. His voice sounded a bit forlorn while he was still looking down and not at her.

Veronica took a deep breath. _Friends should be able to ask personal questions every once in a while and not worry about it being awkward_. "Were you ever able to get him to talk to you... you know… Charlie?"

Logan looked back up at her with a slightly grimmer expression than before as he nodded slowly. "Yeah… a couple times at least. He um… saw an article about me being a deputy and I guess… you know… I wasn't just the embarrassing 19 year old fuck up anymore… so he reached out and we talked a few times. No big family reunion or weekend BBQ's, but at least it's a start I guess."

Veronica reached over and squeezed his hand that was sitting on the bar near his beer. "I'm really glad to hear that. Maybe with time, you guys can get closer."

Logan nodded and looked nervously down at the bar and their hands. "Yeah, maybe…" He set his other hand on top of hers and looked up into her eyes. There was a much softer expression on his face than she'd seen since she'd been back. "Hey, about what you said earlier… You've only been back less than a week. I'm sure it will get easier after you give it a little more time. I'm sure all your friends are glad you're back."

She nodded and looked at him a bit wistfully. "Thanks Logan."

"Sure… We should probably get back out there," he replied as he gestured with his head toward the lanes.

She nodded and slowly pulled her hand away. "Thanks for the drink too," she said fondly.

"Yeah… of course," he replied with almost a nervous expression on his face. He gestured for her to walk in front of him again, so she led the way back to the rest of the group.

"Hey, there you are," Mac said as they walked back over. "I wondered where you got off to."

"Logan and I just grabbed a quick beer at the bar," Veronica replied as she looked up at the scoreboard to see what frame they were on. She glanced at Mac and saw a teasing smile on her face. Veronica shook her head slightly and rolled her eyes.

Logan walked back over and took his spot by Jane again. He gestured with his head for Veronica to come over by them when she glanced in their direction. He scooted over slightly so she could sit between him and Jane. "Jane wanted to hear what it was like living in San Francisco," he said as she gave him a small smile and sat down. She spent the next fifteen minutes or so telling them about things she liked about living up there and some of the places she'd visited. She tried not to notice how comfortable it felt to be squeezed up against Logan as they sat there and talked. There wasn't a lot of room on the bench they were using, and he'd had his arm across the back of it so she could feel his bicep against her shoulder as well. The earlier feeling of being an outsider seemed to melt away as she sat and talked with Jane. Logan interjected a few times with questions or comments as well. She'd gotten so wrapped up in their discussion that she practically forgot about the others that were there. The game they'd been playing was almost over when they'd returned, and since there weren't enough people interested in starting an entire new game of Sheriffs versus Firefighters, a few of the guys were just practicing and not actually worrying about the score anymore.

"Hey, we're going to take off," Norris said as he and Mac walked over with Brandon standing a bit behind them. "Mac and I were talking about stopping over at the diner on First Street for pie. Did you want to join us?" Norris asked as Mac gave her a small hopeful smile.

"I've never known Veronica to pass up dessert," Logan chimed in with a teasing tone.

"Um…" Veronica was so torn. She was really enjoying talking with Jane and Logan, but didn't want Mac to feel like she couldn't go since she was her ride there.

"Hey, if you need to head home, I can drop you off," Logan interjected, apparently sensing Veronica's hesitation and perhaps Mac's eagerness.

"I really should get home and make sure Backup's been fed and walked. I think my dad had a late stake out tonight," Veronica replied with an apologetic smile on her face.

"Are you sure?" Mac asked looking back and forth between Logan and Veronica.

"Yeah, no problem," Logan replied with a smile. "You guys enjoy your pie."

Veronica said a quick goodbye to the three of them, and of course couldn't help but notice a small look of disappointment on Brandon's face, although he did tell her to have a good night and that he hoped to see her again soon. The obvious disappointment still made her feel a little guilty though. _Maybe it's better this way though, rather than giving him hope of something that in all likelihood isn't going to happen. _

She started changing out of her shoes as Logan did the same. They said good night to the rest of the group that still remained and then headed out to his car. He was still driving the same Range Rover that he'd had when he first started at Hearst. She was a little surprised that he hadn't bought something new in the last 4 years. She'd actually gone with him car shopping before they'd started school that year and remembered how much he'd really loved it, although he'd pretended to be upset that they didn't have one in an obnoxious yellow color. She remembered accidentally putting a small dent in the dash with a heel one night. She gently ran her fingers over the dent when she saw as she was climbing in.

"Thanks for offering to drive me home," she said as she fastened her seat belt.

"Yeah, no problem." He paused for a moment before he spoke again. "Hey, I'm sorry I tried to push you into going out with Brandon. I just thought…" he stopped again and let out a deep sigh. "I don't know… I'm sorry though if things are uncomfortable for you now with him."

"That's not why I didn't want to go with them… and it's not… I just…" It was Veronica's turn for pauses and awkward sighs. "I didn't come back wanting to jump immediately into some new relationship. I wanted to come back to be near my dad and my friends again… my friends… including you…" She saw his mouth quirk up into a small half smile.

"So is there someone in San Francisco hoping you're still coming back?" he asked in what almost sounded like a nervous tone as he started to drive back toward her dad's house.

She shook her head. "No nothing like that. I just… I wasn't really happy with my life there and thought coming home sounded like a better idea."

He nodded in understanding and then they drove the rest of the short way in silence. When they pulled up to her dad's house it was easy to tell from the outside that her dad was still gone. "Were you really going to take Backup for a walk?" he asked as he turned off the SUV.

"Yeah, I think so. We both sleep better if we get a little fresh air before bed. Did you um… did you want to join us?" Veronica bit on her lip a bit nervously as she waited for his answer.

"Actually, yeah… if you don't mind the company."

She shook her head and smiled. "No I don't mind at all." They climbed out of the SUV and walked up to the front door. He stood a bit awkwardly inside the door petting Backup while she went to change into some different shoes and pants since she had nicer slacks on from going out to dinner. When she came back out, she put Backup on his leash and they headed out the door.

"I bet you missed him too while you were away." Logan commented as they started walking through the quiet neighborhood.

"Yeah I did," Veronica answered as she reached down and scratched Backup's head.

"So…" Logan said almost hesitantly. "You mentioned earlier having a hard time getting acclimated again. What's been bothering you the most about things being different?"

_That's a bit of a loaded question isn't it?_ "I don't know… I think it's just a combination of several things…" she let out a frustrated sigh. "And the feeling that people are trying to keep things from me… intentionally."

"Like what?" he asked in what sounded like a genuinely innocent tone. _Really Logan?_

"Well, besides you not wanting to talk to me about your argument with Leo," she replied with a quirked brow. He let out a huff of air as she said it. "Weevil's engaged to Wanda Varner and hadn't even told me that the two of them were dating… and Wallace also seems to want to keep his love life a total secret from me too."

"Well… you can be a bit judgmental… and scary you know." Now it was her turn to let out a huff of air. He chuckled at her reaction. "But we all adore you and wouldn't want you to change."

Now it was her turn to chuckle. "Right… stay prickly Veronica… we all love you that way."

She heard him take a deep breath and glanced over at him. "About the thing with Leo…" he started to say with a nervous look on his face before she interrupted him.

"Logan," she cut in with a sigh. "You don't owe me any explanations. I know I haven't been a part of your life for a very long time." She let out another sigh. "Unfortunately, I haven't changed much at all and still try to stick my nose where it really doesn't belong."

"Yeah… but I could tell you were just concerned though, and I probably could have reacted differently." He glanced over at her with a warm smile. "I do appreciate that you care. I guess I'm just not used to having someone around that actually cares about things like that." He chuckled again. "Norris is a great friend, but he's certainly not as nosy as a certain blonde pixy spy that I know."

"Hm… you know another nosy blonde pixy spy? You'll have to introduce me. I'd love to meet her. Maybe we can trade notes." Veronica replied in a teasing tone, earning a laugh from him.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes before Logan spoke again. "So Wanda and Weevil? Really?" His tone reflected the very same disbelief that she'd also felt.

Veronica laughed. "Yeah, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that seemed a bit bizarre. I take it the two of you haven't become best buds while I was gone?"

Logan laughed and shook his head. "Um… no… I guess we sort of peacefully co-exist, although I did notice that usually your dad comes down to the station to take care of bail jumper business rather than sending Weevil. But we've crossed paths on a few occasions. We usually keep it to a few insults tossed back and forth, but at least no fisticuffs."

"How very civilized of you," Veronica teased back.

"Yeah, that's me… the poster boy for civilized…"

She noticed he got very quiet all of a sudden after that comment. Up to that point during their walk, there actually hadn't been any long lulls in the conversation. He finally took a deep breath. "Look… I know it's really none of my business… but…" he paused and took a deep breath again, this one sounded even more frustrated than the first one.

"What?" she asked hesitantly after a few seconds of him not continuing.

"Just… be careful with Sebastian…"

She waited to see if he was going to elaborate, but he was silent again. _Should I ask why, or just let it go? If there was something actually dangerous I'm sure he would have said what it was. It's more likely that he's just saying it because of his obvious dislike of him. _She finally decided to just acknowledge his warning. "Okay," she said softly.

They'd circled the block and made it back to her dad's house a few minutes after that, walking the rest of the way in silence again. "Well I should be going. I'll see you tomorrow at the station though. Just a heads up, sometimes Friday nights can get a bit chaotic for us. We normally have a few more deputies on duty than other nights to help with calls. And Saturday's too of course."

"Thanks for the heads up," she said as she turned and gave him a warm smile. "And thanks for talking tonight. It really meant a lot. It was nice to have a friend to talk to."

He nodded and gave her a fond smile. "Yeah… hey look at us… finally figuring out how to do the friend thing." She nodded in agreement. "Good night Veronica." He gave her a little wave and turned to walk back to his SUV that was parked on he curb.

_Yeah… friends… well I guess that's a start. Not exactly what I was hoping for when I left San Francisco, but I think it's better than where things were when I left for Virginia and then Stanford._ She watched him climb in to his SUV and gave him another small wave before she walked up the porch and opened the door to go in. She noticed that he didn't pull away from the curb until she was safely in the house. _Always the protector… my protector. _She felt a small tinge of nostalgia pass through her as she took off Backup's leash and locked the front door.


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback so far! Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 12

Veronica was in a better mood as she headed to the station on Friday morning. Spending some time with Logan the night before had made her feel much better about things, even if they were headed more in the direction of friends for now. It was still nice to feel like they were finally starting to connect on some level again.

Their shifts were slightly staggered, so she and Norris started an hour before Logan and Doug. She got started on the McDade case again, asking Norris to do a few more checks for her. The first hour went by quickly as she focused on going through more of the accounting records for the firm. Logan arrived a few minutes before Doug and placed a coffee from the Hut on her desk. "The office coffee can be pretty crappy, so thought I'd pick one up for you when I got mine," he said with a warm smile as he continued on to his own desk with his own coffee.

"Thanks, jackass," Norris grumbled under his breath and Logan just gave him a smirk and shrugged.

"So how was _pie_?" Logan asked Norris as he waggled his eyebrows at him and accentuated the last word.

Norris blushed slightly and shook his head. "Delicious," he snapped back and Veronica thought she heard him grumble jackass under his breath again.

"I'm sure it was," Logan answered with a smirk.

Veronica had gotten a text from Mac before she went to sleep making sure she made it home okay and checking that everything was alright since she hadn't wanted to go to get dessert with them. She'd called her back and they'd talked for a little while and it sounded like she'd had a good time with Norris too. Of course she'd mentioned that Brandon was definitely disappointed that Veronica hadn't come along, but that he hadn't come right out and said anything about it either. Veronica was thankful that Mac hadn't really pushed her too hard on why she wouldn't go with them and also that she didn't give her a bad time about hanging around with Logan. Mac did say she was really looking forward to spending the following Saturday with Norris at the Japanese Art Exhibit at Hearst.

A few minutes after Logan had sat down, Leo popped his head out of his office and looked around at them. "I know you all have your stupid little game, but I wanted Veronica to focus on the McDade case, so no dumping calls on her today, okay? If we get short handed, she could go, or I could fill in, but don't just load her up with other stuff. Got it?"

"Sure," Logan replied as Norris nodded his head too.

"Thanks," Leo said, then turned and went back into his office.

The next hour was pretty quiet, with Doug arriving shortly after Logan and the four of them mostly just working on things at their desks. Selma finally walked over and let them know there was a burglary call that they needed to go out for. Logan asked Norris if he wanted to go with Doug, or he could go if he didn't want to.

"Nah, I'll go. You know I hate sitting at my desk pretending to have shit to do anyway," Norris said as he stood up and grabbed his jacket. "Come on Devlin, let's go."

"Hey, if I can help with anything, let me know okay?" Logan said to her with a small lopsided grin before he turned back toward his desk.

"Thanks, I will," she replied and then started looking through the records again. _This is so much better than yesterday._

About twenty minutes later Veronica glanced over toward Logan's desk as she heard his cell phone ring. She quickly looked back at her laptop though because she didn't want to look like she was eavesdropping. Of course with a practically empty station it was hard not to hear everything he said.

"Hey babe," Logan said in a jovial tone as he answered the call. He let out a half laugh half huff sort of sound. "Well it's not the first time one of your photographers has been stuck in traffic... So what _ensemble_ are you in today?" She heard him make a low moan as he shifted slightly in his chair. "That one sounds extremely sexy. You've got to send me a picture of that one." There was a pause then out of the corner of her eye she saw him pull the phone away obviously looking at the photo Bex had just sent him. "That one's definitely hotter than the one you were in yesterday... yeah I guess the red and black one was hot too, but this one definitely accentuates your _assets_ much better." She heard him let out a deep chuckle at whatever Bex's reply was. "You've got to bring that one home with you... Mmm hmm... Me too... Tell Sienna she did an amazing job on your hair and make-up..." He was quiet for a minute and she wondered if he'd ended the call, so she glanced over as discretely as she could and saw he was still listening. "Of course they're going to offer you the lingerie shoots over her… Well for one your tits are way nicer." He let out a mischievous laugh. "Well she was half naked yesterday when I was watching your shoot so of course I noticed... Blondes are hotter too... No your abs are way toner than hers… Mmm hmm… I betcha could… Come on, wouldn't you rather be doing lingerie shoots than boring department store ads? ... Then stop bitching about it..." He let out a frustrated sigh. "I told you I have to work this weekend. When does the new shoot start? ... Are you still flying out next Sunday for Paris? ... We'll still have at least 4 days together." There was another stretch of silence and then a frustrated sigh. "I told you I can't take that much time off to go to Paris... I promise I'll make it up to you though, especially if you sneak home that number you've got on right now." She heard another low deep chuckle followed by a low moan and a few more slow mmm-hm's again.

_Well this is great fucking fun... listening to Logan and Bex discussing lingerie and practically having phone sex. _She tried to focus back on the information on her screen but couldn't ignore the jealous feeling coursing through her even though she knew she didn't really have any right to feel jealous. Her desk phone rang and she realized it was just her regular line and not the general department line.

"Hello?" She hoped her annoyance didn't come through in her tone.

"You like Chinese food right?" Veronica smiled as she recognized Sebastian's voice.

"Yes..."

"I don't have time for a long lunch, but I was going to run out and pick up a to-go order and thought I'd see if I could drop something off for you too."

Veronica glanced at Logan's desk and could see he was still wrapped up in his call with Bex. The smug predatory expression on his face made it clear they were probably still talking about how great her tits were or how amazing her ass looked in her lacy thong. "Sounds great," Veronica replied, trying to keep the spite out of her tone.

"Egg rolls or pot stickers?"

"Mmmm... definitely egg rolls."

He laughed softly at her reply. She gave him the rest of her order and said she'd see him soon.

When she hung up the phone she noticed Logan was off his phone too and gave her a small smile before turning back to his paper work. _Oh sure Logan, act like you think I didn't over hear that phone call. This isn't awkward at all... _She let out a deep sigh. _Come on Veronica, you can't really be mad at him for just talking to his girlfriend... regardless of the subject matter it's still none of your business. _She focused back on the McDade information on her screen and tried to erase his call with Bex from her mind.

About 20 minutes later Sebastian walked into the station carrying a bag of the take out food. He gave her a friendly smile as he walked toward her desk. She caught Logan looking their way out of the corner of her eye and heard him let out a loud annoyed huff.

"Your lunch has arrived," Sebastian said softly as he stopped in front of her desk. "Um... I got a message while I was picking up the food that my next appointment had to reschedule, so I have a bit more time than I expected if you'd like to eat together. But if you're swamped I understand." She couldn't help but notice the hopeful expression on his face. She waved her hand at the empty chair in front of her desk and he smiled and took a seat.

They started taking containers out of the bag and she grabbed a pair of chopsticks. She caught Logan's eye over Sebastian's shoulder for a second and it was easy to tell he wasn't thrilled to see him there. _You did sort of agree to this just because you were jealous of his call with Bex. _"Want an egg roll?" She asked in a friendly tone hoping to soften his mood and alleviate a bit of her own guilt.

"Nope," he replied sharply as he turned back toward his desk again.

Sebastian gave her a grim look and then turned toward Logan. Veronica cringed but wasn't sure what she should say or do. "You don't need to be an asshole to her. She was just trying to be nice."

Veronica immediately felt her chest tighten.

Logan spun around quickly and glared at Sebastian. "Ah, but you should know being an asshole is my specialty."

Sebastian shook his head. "Yeah, I guess I should." He turned back to Veronica with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry, maybe I should go."

"Oh no," Logan interrupted loudly. Veronica took a sharp breath as she recognized the look on his face. His dangerous malicious glare. _This isn't going to end well._ "Don't leave on my account. I certainly don't want to cause an issue between the two of you. In fact I hope things _really_ work out for the two of you... because I'm looking forward to nailing your ass to the wall when I get to tell Chapman that you've been banging one of the arresting officers on one of your cases _again_."

Logan picked up the file he was working on and stood up from his desk. He gave them a smug smirk as he walked past them and went into Leo's office, closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry," Veronica said softly, though she wasn't exactly sure what she was apologizing for. _I haven't really done anything wrong other than agreeing to have lunch with Sebastian again. Logan could at least show a little restraint even if he does hate the guy._

"You absolutely don't need to apologize," Sebastian replied with a grim expression. "Echolls being a jerk is not your fault." He took a deep breath. "And about what he said. I'm not working on any criminal cases with the sheriff's department, besides the guy Echolls arrested a few days ago. I've been working litigation cases mostly these days."

She nodded in understanding. "And the case before?"

Sebastian gave her a sheepish look. "I was hoping you might not have caught that with the rest of his tirade, but yeah, about a year ago I dated another deputy. We had an amicable breakup when she decided to move to New York to be closer to her family, but before that there was one case that came up and of course Echolls was quick to point out the conflict of interest before I could get taken off the case. I had intended to when I found out though. He just happily beat me to reporting it. Of course he was the other arresting officer and knew the two of us were dating, so as soon as he found out I'd been assigned the case he reported it to the D.A."

Veronica nodded again. The fact Logan may have had a female partner that had been dating a guy he despised didn't go unnoticed either.

"I can go if you want. I'm the one who's sorry about that little scene. It's certainly not your fault." Sebastian offered with a concerned look.

She shook her head. "It's fine. I actually went to high school with him, so him being a jackass is just like old times." She took another bite of her lunch. _Too much like old times damn it._

Sebastian gave her an understanding smile and nodded. He was about to take another bite of his food when his cell phone chimed. He glanced at his phone and then gave her a disappointed look. "Sorry. Duty calls. It's one if the senior partners, so I'd better get back."

"I feel bad that you've bought me lunch twice now. Next time it's my treat. Okay?" Veronica replied with a bright expression on her face.

He smiled broadly and nodded. "Sounds good. Here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. "This has my cell number on it."

She gave him a warm smile as she took it. "Thanks. I'll call you soon."

He smiled back and winked as he stood up to go. She helped put his boxes back into the bag and thanked him again before he left. She let out a frustrated sigh after she sat back down. She couldn't believe what an ass Logan had been. _So much for him being more mature after all these years._

She'd just taken another egg roll out as the door to Leo's office opened and Logan walked back out. He had a sullen expression on his face when she glanced in his direction. "Sorry," he mumbled as he walked by her desk, not making eye contact with her at all.

"You should be," she said in an annoyed tone.

Before they had a chance to say anything else Selma walked over. "We just got a call from a security company about a break-in in progress. Clayton and Devlin are on their way there, but asked for backup."

"Mars?" Logan asked a bit reluctantly. She nodded and stood up. "Let them know we're on our way" he told Selma who nodded and handed him the address.

They walked in silence to his car as he was typing the address into his phone's GPS. They climbed in and he started the engine. "I really am sorry Veronica," he said again with a sigh. "I just _really_ don't like him."

"Obviously," Veronica answered curtly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Logan let out a frustrated sigh and didn't say anything else as he drove them to the address. Norris and Doug were waiting for them when they arrived. Doug was watching the back entrance while Norris was in the front. Norris said that he didn't think the suspect realized they were there yet and so they were waiting for backup before going in. Logan said he'd go around to the back with Doug and then signal when they were ready to go in. Norris was about to open the front door on Logan's signal when there was a gun shot.

Veronica's chest felt tight and she could barely breathe as she heard it. The gun shot came from the back of the residence, not the front by where they were. For a split second she thought about how absolutely devastated she'd be if Logan was killed when the last thing they'd done was fight again.

Norris nodded to her and forced open the front door and went in with his gun drawn. Doug's voice came over their radios a moment later that they had the guy already and that they didn't think there was anyone else with him. Veronica let out a relieved breath, but then quickly reminded herself that Logan had still been a total ass earlier. Norris and Veronica did a quick sweep of the house and didn't find anyone else, so went back toward where Logan and Doug had the guy cuffed on the ground in the back of the house.

"Who fired?" Norris asked as he looked back and forth at Logan and Doug. Logan gestured to the guy on the ground and Doug held up a small hand gun that he'd put in an evidence bag.

"He was a shitty aim luckily," Logan commented as he pulled the guy to his feet. He started pushing him back through the house toward the cars in the front. Someone from the security company had arrived and they exchanged information for the home owner. After they were done with the security guy, Logan locked the suspect in the back of the squad car and looked at Veronica for a moment.

"I'll ride back with Norris," she said abruptly and started walking to the other car. She still wasn't ready to just forgive him for how he acted with Sebastian.

"Come on D," Logan said to Doug as Veronica heard the car doors open and close.

Norris caught up to her and gave her a questioning look as they climbed in. "What's going on?" he asked as they were fastening their seat belts.

Veronica shook her head and let out a frustrated breath. "Logan was an ass when Sebastian brought me some lunch."

"Oh…" He paused a moment before continuing. "Sorry but I can't really blame him," Norris replied a bit hesitantly.

Veronica turned and stared at him. "Why?" Even though she figured she probably knew the answer, based on what Sebastian had told her, that was still only one side of the story, and neither Logan nor Norris had actually told her their version of it. She was already mad at Logan for how he acted, and before she got mad at Norris too, she thought she'd at least give him a chance to explain it.

Norris took a deep breath. "That's Logan's story to tell, not mine. Logan's my friend and Townsend pretty much screwed him over, so I'm siding with Logan on this."

"Was it the suspension then?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah, mostly that. And some of the other cases he's worked on."

She knew cops and defense lawyers rarely got along. She wasn't really surprised neither of them liked him, and who knows if given time she wouldn't either, but right now it was nice having someone who wasn't so much like Piz who was interested in spending time with her. Of course she tried to tell herself that Logan having a girlfriend was not a factor in that. They'd really had such a great time at lunch the day before. She decided she'd be better off just not seeing him at the station at least.

The two of them rode back to the station in silence just like her ride there with Logan. When Norris was parking, Veronica finally spoke up. "I'll be sure not to have him stop by the station to see me again."

Norris quirked an eyebrow at her. "Does that mean you'll just see him away from the station?" She shrugged and let out a sigh.

Norris nodded and didn't say anything else. They were about to the back door of the station when Norris asked how the McDade case was going. She started filling him in on a few suspicious employees as they continued inside.

Logan and Doug arrived a few minutes after they did, with Logan escorting the suspect back to the holding cells. He pretty much ignored Veronica the rest of the afternoon dealing with the break-in report. At first she was happy not to have to deal with him, but after almost two hours she started to be bothered by his blatant behavior. _He did try to apologize and you just snapped right back. Are you really mad about his comment to Sebastian or more about the call with his girlfriend? She is his girlfriend and you really don't have any right to get upset about what he says to her._

A call came in while Logan was in talking with Leo, so Norris and Doug took it again. She could tell Logan was a bit put out when he came back out and realized he'd been left alone with her again. Leo had followed him out of his office and said he was headed home for the night, but that they could call him if anything major happened that they needed him for. Logan's cell phone rang a few minutes after he'd sat down at his desk.

"Hey," he answered, decidedly less chipper than he'd been earlier when Bex had called so she wondered if it was someone else this time. "Yeah, I saw your other picture, but it's been a hectic afternoon..." She heard a soft laugh and then another sigh. "Of course you looked beautiful in that babe... Yeah I liked the black one better too... No I haven't... Yeah, that's probably it. I'll scrounge up something soon... Mmmm... yeah we don't get food catered here..." She thought she heard a slight annoyance to his tone in his last comment. She could imagine he was thinking about her lunch delivery at that point. "Are you at Sydney's now? ... Tell her I said hi... have fun, but not _too_ much fun." He let out a more light hearted laugh. "I'm sure you'll forget later but I appreciate the thought... Bye Bex."

She glanced over and saw he was looking down at the papers on his desk. She knew he used to get even more moody when he went too long with out eating. Norris and Doug said they'd grabbed something before the break in call, but she didn't think Logan had eaten anything yet at all. She wasn't sure he'd eat what Sebastian had brought for her, but decided to extend an olive branch and offer anyway. "Selma put my leftover food in the fridge if you're hungry."

"You should eat it," he replied, still looking at the papers on his desk.

"There's plenty if you want some too. I'm not really hungry."

He finally turned and gave her a tentative look, and then a small smirk crossed his face. "Veronica Mars not hungry? What sort of imposter are you?"

She smiled slightly and rolled her eyes. "Just eat it."

"Oh wait, there's the bossy... definitely not an imposter," he replied with a faint smile.

She shook her head and pointed toward the break area. He let out a huff and stood up from his desk. "Thanks," he said softly as he walked by.

She nodded and went back to looking through the records again. He came back out a few minutes later with a container and plastic fork. "I left the egg rolls for you."

"Smart man," she said with a smirk as he went back to his desk.

"Any luck?" he asked as he spun around to face her and pointed to her files with his fork.

"Sort of," she said with a grimaced expression. "I think I found the account that has been siphoning off the funds."

"That's good," Logan responded though looking at her obviously confused as to why she wasn't happy about it. He took another bite of food as he waited for her to explain.

"The employee that the account belongs to has been dead for 2 years. They just never actually went in and deleted his login information." Veronica explained as she rubbed her temple.

"Someone discovered the active account then?"

Veronica nodded. "Yep, so that's going to be harder to figure out. Although the funds had to have gone somewhere."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," he said with an encouraging look on his face.

Veronica took a deep breath. "Hey, I'm sorry too…" He quirked his eyebrows at her in a questioning expression. "I knew you didn't like Sebastian and I still had him bring me lunch. I just never expected…" she waved her hands around in front of her. "I didn't realize you hated him that much."

Logan let out a frustrated sigh and stared down into his food. "He's not really that nice of a guy Veronica." He laughed bitterly and then shook his head. "Though I'm not either, so I'm not one to talk." _And he's back to putting himself down again, damn it. Although after today's little scene it is a little hard to really argue with him._

She let out a frustrated sigh. "I just thought… I thought we were starting to figure out how to be friends again, and then this…"

"Even friends get mad at each other sometimes Veronica," he said after glancing up at her for a second and then back at his food. "What's important is apologizing." She thought she noticed a more distressed expression when he looked back down but with the angle of his head, she couldn't exactly tell.

A minute later Norris and Doug walked back in with an overly drunken man that Doug escorted back to the holding cells and Logan swung back around to face his desk. Norris was working on the paperwork for the guy when Doug came back out and another call came in. Logan had answered the phone and was getting the information as Doug sat down at his desk.

"Hey Devlin," Logan said after he hung up, earning a loud groan from Doug. "Can you head down to Neptune Memorial to take a statement?"

"Rock, paper, scissor?" Doug asked with a hopeful smile.

Logan laughed. "How about we flip a coin? I'll let you call it."

"Sounds fair," Doug said as Logan dug a coin out of his pocket. "I'll let Veronica call for me," Doug added with a flirty smile at her. "I'm guessing she's luckier than I am."

"Um… tails." Veronica said with a smile at Doug. Logan tossed the coin up and let it land on Veronica's desk.

"Fuck," Doug said quietly as the coin landed heads side up on her desk.

"Sorry," she whispered to him.

"It's not your fault," Doug replied with a chipper smile. He gave her a little wave as he headed out of the station.

Veronica glanced at the time on her laptop screen and noticed they only had another hour left until their shift was over. She reached up and stretched her arms, tipping her head from side to side. She was positive the account for the dead man was how someone had been accessing and stealing the money, but the question was who knew his log-in and password. She wondered if Todd might know who was close to the guy to check their accounts. She hoped he didn't give the login information to someone outside the company, although they should be able to check all remote access to the system to validate the accounts coming in from outside the building.

Fifteen minutes after Doug had left, the department phones rang. Logan and Norris both answered at about the same time, and it took Veronica a minute to realize that there must have been two separate calls because they both kept talking. They hung up about the same time and Logan gestured for Norris to go first. "Domestic Disturbance call." Norris said as he looked at Logan.

"Same," Logan replied as he stood up with the paper in his hand. "Zip?"

Norris glanced quickly at Veronica, then back at Logan. "02".

Logan held his paper out to Norris, who shook his head. "No, Devlin's not here." Norris replied firmly.

"I'll call him and have him meet me at the address." Logan said, still holding his paper up for Norris. Norris shook his head again and looked more determined than before. "Give me the fucking address Clayton," Logan said with a scowl on his face. When Norris didn't budge Logan looked even more angry. "You know the rules. You're not taking someone who's been here less than a week to that address." Logan was close enough now to grab the paper out of Norris's hand and put his there instead. He grabbed his coat off the back of his chair as he quickly walked out of the station.

Norris let out a frustrated sigh. "Ready?" he asked Veronica, who nodded and grabbed her own jacket to follow him out to the car. Their address was in the 07 neighborhood, so decidedly better than the area Logan had headed to.

"Can you get Devlin on the radio and make sure Logan called him?" Norris asked as they climbed into the squad car. Logan had already pulled out of the parking lot before they'd gotten out of the building.

Veronica called Doug and he said Logan did call and that he'd be catching up with him in just a few minutes. "Is there really a rule about taking new deputies to certain zip codes?" Veronica asked curiously. "I do have prior experience, so it's not like I'm exactly a rookie."

Norris shrugged and let out a sigh. She couldn't help but wonder if it was more about Logan keeping her away from dangerous calls than about there being an actual rule. "I did go through training in San Francisco. I can handle myself." Veronica replied with an annoyed tone in her voice. Norris just shrugged again, but didn't have much else to say.

Norris and Veronica's call didn't turn out to be much of anything. A couple had been arguing loudly when the neighbors called, mostly because they were annoyed that it was disrupting a dinner party they were hosting, but there really wasn't anything that required them to get involved with once they got there. When they got back to the station, Logan and Doug were still gone, but the night shift team was there, one of them of course being Deputy Bridges. He gave her a less than friendly greeting. _Apparently Deputy Bridges doesn't really like to share._ The other guy was an older Deputy named Bob Coleman who had worked at the station even when her dad was there. He at least gave her a warm greeting and welcomed her back to Neptune.

"Any word from Echolls and Devlin?" Norris asked the other two.

"Yeah, Echolls called in and said he needed to stop by the hospital before he headed back." Coleman answered.

"Do you want us to stick around until they get here?" Norris asked after glancing at the clock on the wall. Their shift had ended about 15 minutes before they made it back.

"No, Devlin was going to head back over here since they had two cars while Echolls finished up things at the hospital."

Veronica packed up her laptop and files, and then went in and grabbed the rest of the leftovers to take home to finish off before she went to bed. She said good night to Norris and the other deputies before she headed out to her car. She sort of wished Logan had made it back before she left, but at least they seemed to smooth things over a little bit before the last calls came in. Regardless of that, she really wasn't expecting a coffee from him again in the morning. _One step forward, two steps back… is that ever going to change for us? _

_**A/N – I do feel a bit bad after all the wonderful reviews on the prior chapter about how great the LoVe connection was going in that one to have them stumble again now. But it is LoVe, and in trying to be true to that I couldn't make it too easy for them. Please let me know what you thought of this new chapter, even if you want to yell at me about it. They don't write songs about the ones that come easy! **_


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback and support so far! I need to apologize to everyone that I replied to saying I'd get to more about Logan and Sebastian in this chapter. It didn't quite get that far yet, but there will definitely be more in the next chapter about what happened between them. At least this one is a really long one to make up for it, which is why the part I thought I'd be covering had to wait for the next chapter. Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 13

When Veronica made it home Friday night, Keith was already asleep. She wasn't surprised since he'd been out really late Thursday night on a stake out and then had an early Friday meeting. He was in the kitchen when she finally made it out of the shower and decided to grab a bowl of cereal.

"Ah... I do actually have a daughter living here. Since we keep missing each other I wasn't sure." Keith teased as she pulled a bowl out and rummaged through the cereal choices. "So how's the life of one of Balboa County's finest going?"

_Besides the awkwardness with my ex?_ "Good. Got an exciting embezzlement case."

Keith smiled proudly. "You always did love following the money."

"Hey, how well do you know Sebastian Townsend?"

"He's not the embezzler is he?" Keith asked in surprise.

Veronica laughed. "No... Well at least not that I know of."

"Hmm... then why else might my daughter be interested in him?" He asked as he raised his eyebrows and gave her a teasing look.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Does the answer to that change what you're going to say?"

He laughed and shook his head at her. "I've worked with him on a few cases. Seems like a bright guy." He paused a moment then gave her a quizzical look. "Want me to run a background check on him?" He did at least add a wink after the question.

She laughed and shook her head. "Just wondering what your general impression of him was. We've had lunch twice and it's clear that Logan doesn't like him at all."

Keith laughed and shook his head. "Of course he's not going to like a guy who's interested in you."

Veronica gave him a look of disagreement. "Right... And that's why he was trying to set me up with Brandon the firefighter." She scoffed and shook her head. "He's a bit too wrapped up with his girlfriend to care about who I may date."

Keith chuckled and shook his head before holding his hands up in surrender. "I'm staying out of this one, but I thought your detective skills were a bit better than that."

She huffed and looked as though she were totally offended. "My detective skills are exceptional." _Which is how I know he's quite satisfied with his current girlfriend and all her perfect 'assets'. Like I could erase that call yesterday from my brain._ "And he did encourage me to go out with Brandon, so I don't think his problem with Sebastian has anything to do with me."

"Fine, fine... If you say so, I'm sure you're right." The placating tone was clearly evident as he said it. "I've got a few things to do at the office before I head over to Alicia's. We're driving up to LA to go to a new jazz club tonight and decided to make a day if it. We'll be back tomorrow by early afternoon. She's planning a family dinner again tomorrow night if you're up to it."

Veronica nodded before she told him to have fun and to drive safely. She scratched Backup on the head as he came over to sit by her after she flopped down on the couch with her bowl of cereal.

_Logan jealous? No that doesn't make sense given he was trying to push me toward Brandon._ She took another bite of cereal and thought a little more. But maybe he was just trying to be protective. _I could see him worrying about me with Sebastian since he's convinced he's a bad guy. Although I don't think his definition of bad is the same as say a psychotic murderer or rapist in this case. My dad didn't seem to have any reservations when I mentioned him at least. And Logan doesn't have any right to tell me who I can or can't see. Of course I'm not going to poke the hornet's nest by meeting him again in front of Logan either._

Veronica arrived at the sheriff's office at the same time as Norris. Their shifts were staggered again with Logan and Doug, and they were all starting a little later than the day before.

"Good morning," Norris said as Veronica climbed out of her car. "Ready for another exciting day of upholding the law?"

Veronica chuckled and nodded. She was glad that whatever annoyance Norris may have had with her seeing Sebastian that he definitely didn't hold it against her at all.

She looked up Todd's number when she got to her desk. She was hoping he might know something about the deceased man, although she wasn't sure how involved Todd was at the company two years ago since she didn't think he would have been done at Hearst yet. She was hoping that maybe he had done some work at the firm while he was still going to Hearst though. She dialed the number and waited for him to answer. He picked up on the third ring with a friendly hello.

"Hi Todd, it's Veronica Mars. I know it's Saturday, but I was hoping I could ask you a few questions for the case today."

"Hey Veronica!" He said cheerily. "No problem. Right now I'm golfing with my cousin and some other buddies, but I could stop by the sheriff's office later." She heard him either move the phone away or cover it slightly. She could tell he was talking to someone near him, but couldn't make out the other voice well enough and Todd's was a bit muffled. "Yeah... Veronica Mars... Oh..." His voice changed to be louder and unmuffled as he started to speak to her again. "I guess you know my cousin, Sebastian. He said to tell you hi."

Veronica started to reply when she heard a much louder obnoxious voice through the phone.

"No fucking way! Ronnie Mars! Dude, don't even..."

"Um... Sorry I need to go. I'll stop by a while later though. Bye Veronica."

"Okay, thanks." Veronica replied right before the line disconnected. She internally cringed. Of course that voice was unmistakable, regardless of him being the only person to always call her Ronnie. _I'm not surprised that he'd still be friends with Todd, but what is Logan's BFF doing hanging out with enemy number one... And why hasn't he popped up at some point before now? _She glanced over at Norris for a moment. _And why is it that Norris seems to have taken that role in Logan's life now?_ She hadn't really given it much thought since she'd been back, but hearing him through the phone made her curious. She'd thought maybe he just wasn't in Neptune anymore since Logan hadn't mentioned him and she hadn't bumped into him in Logan's orbit yet.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked Norris with a contemplative expression.

He gave her a broad smile. "You can ask, but you may not get an answer."

"Fair enough... Are Logan and Dick still friends?"

"Um... I don't think so." Norris answered a bit hesitantly.

"Why? What happened?" Dick of course had never been a person she'd liked, but he'd seemed pretty loyal to Logan even after all they'd been through.

Norris shrugged and shook his head. "I honestly don't know. We've never talked about it. They were already not speaking to each other when I joined the department. I noticed he tried to avoid Hearst calls if he could, but occasionally we did get calls that we had to take there. We did run into him once and neither of them said a word to the other one. I wasn't going to ask why though."

"Oh," Veronica was surprised by that and of course her undying curiosity was making her to want to know more. _Maybe when Logan and I smooth things out more I'll ask what happened or see if Mac might know._

Veronica's phone chimed and she picked it up and saw it was a text from an unknown number. She clicked to open the message.

'Hope I won't be in trouble for stealing your number from Todd's phone. Just wanted to say hi and offer my services. If you need any meal deliveries today, feel free to let me know. I won't even expect a tip.'

"Mac?" Norris asked as she was still looking at her phone. She shook her head and turned back to her desk.

She wasn't terribly surprised he got her number from Todd, although he could have also just asked her directly when they'd had lunch. She was certainly torn over what to do about Sebastian. A part of her really did feel the beginning of a connection with him, but another part knew that would likely lead to more issues with her and Logan. But Logan had Bex and just waiting around pining for him was starting to make her feel a bit desperate and pathetic. If we are just going to be friends, I shouldn't avoid seeing other guys. She hadn't forgotten her thought from earlier and having him stop by when Logan was there certainly wouldn't help anything.

'I'm also a thief, so guess I can't judge you. Stole my dad's leftover fettuccine from last night to have today. Thanks for offering though.'

'Bummer. I'll have to come up with another excuse to see you then.' He replied back a minute later.

_As long as it doesn't involve you coming to the station._ She wasn't really sure what to send back so set her phone down on her desk and went back to looking through the McDade files. She wasn't yet sure if she wanted to encourage Sebastian or not. _Although if he hangs out with Dick very often, he might know what happened between the two of them. _She didn't really feel quite right asking him though given how Logan felt about him, so decided to definitely not go that route.

She was focused on reading through some of the employee review files when she heard something being set on her desk. She looked up and saw a cup of coffee from the Hut and a small paper bag. She smiled and picked up the bag and looked in it to find a chocolate chip scone.

"Thanks for…" she started to say as she turned in her seat but that thought was interrupted by the sight in front of her. "What the hell happened to you?" she asked loudly as she looked up and saw Logan with a black eye and a few stitches right above his left eyebrow.

"Did Bex hit you with a golf club again?" Norris asked as he stood up to get a better look at Logan.

Logan let out a frustrated sigh. "You know that was an accident," he said as he headed toward his own desk and then took a sip of the coffee he was carrying. "She didn't know I was standing that close to her when she swung the club."

Norris let out a low huff. "You make it sound like she was actually playing golf when she _accidentally_ hit you, rather than trashing your Mercedes."

Veronica looked wide eyed at the two of them. Logan shook his head as he took his jacket off. "Well she didn't mean to hit me, and at least it got her to stop hitting the car."

"So what happened?" Norris asked gesturing to Logan's head as he sat down at his desk. "The domestic disturbance call last night?"

Logan nodded slowly and took another drink of his coffee.

Norris shook his head. "Did you not wait for Devlin?"

"Things were a bit heated when I arrived, and I couldn't just stand around and wait for him. He got there a few minutes after I did anyway. The guy just got a lucky shot, that's all."

"I told you that you shouldn't have gone alone." Norris replied clearly very angry with Logan. "Next time there's a _high society_ call at the same time as an 02 call, we'll make the other call wait for Devlin, or whoever, to get back and they can go with Veronica. You're not going to 02 calls on your own again. And I'm sure Leo would back me up on it."

"Don't be such a nag." Logan said with an annoyed huff. "It's just a black eye and a few stitches."

Norris shook his head with a frustrated expression on his face and turned back to his desk. Logan started to stand up again and Veronica saw him flinch, though he quickly tried to mask it. Veronica narrowed her eyes at him and he gave her an innocent smile.

"That's not really _all_ is it?" Veronica asked him suspiciously. "You might as well fess up, or I'll just do a little digging and get the ER report. And don't think I wouldn't."

Logan let out a sigh and shook his head. "Fine, he may have gotten a few good shots on my ribs too, but nothing was broken."

She heard Norris let out another angry huff before he stood up from his desk and walked up to the front to talk to someone who had just come in and stopped at the reception counter.

"Well thanks for the coffee and the scone. I really didn't expect it after how things were yesterday," Veronica told him with a grateful expression.

"The girl at the counter assured me the scone was their 'sorry for being a jackass' special of the day. I should probably just make it a standing order with them."

Veronica shook her head and gave him a disapproving look. "I already told you that yesterday wasn't entirely your fault."

"Well it was at least 90% my fault. You should be able to spend time with whoever you want and as a _friend_, I shouldn't be an asshole to the person. It would really help if it wasn't a person I totally despise, but I'll work on it."

"Why do you hate him so much?" She couldn't help but ask, even though she'd sort of asked him that the very first day they met and didn't get a straight answer then either. She kept wondering if it was more than just his suspension and had yet to actually hear the story from Logan's perspective.

Logan let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't really feel like _justifying_ it to you Veronica. I'm sure it will only lead to you trying to judge which one of us is right or wrong. We don't like each other, end of story."

She sighed and nodded. A part of her wanted to push him on it so badly, but she knew that had always been one of the problems for them before. She could never just accept what he would tell her without questioning it or digging for more. _He did just say he'd try not to be an asshole to whoever I decided to see and the least I can do is to try to change too._

His cell phone rang and he lifted it up to look at the screen. "Sorry, I should take this." He turned back toward his desk, but of course she could still hear him. She did notice he seemed to be talking a bit more quietly than the day before.

"Morning Babe… yeah, sorry, I was in the ER and saw your call when I got out of there… well I didn't want to worry you… I did try to call you back, but you didn't answer and so then I took some pain meds and turned off my phone… no nothing broken… 5 stitches, a black eye and some bruises… over my left eyebrow…" She heard him chuckle. "Yeah, good thing I'm not a model… You coming home today?" She heard a soft sigh. "What time tomorrow then? Okay… did you have fun last night? ... Bex…" He let out a frustrated sigh after saying her name in a very irritated tone. "You know I don't like it when you go there, and you certainly don't need to tell me all the details… I am still a cop even if I'm your boyfriend… You could have just taken a cab back yourself… You're not going there tonight right? … Well then tell Sydney I forbid you from going…" She heard him let out another frustrated sigh and saw him rub his temple with his hand. "Fine whatever, like you ever listen to me… just don't tell me then… fine…" He let out a loud sigh. "I don't want to fight with you either… okay see you tomorrow."

His back was toward her and she could see him pull the phone away from his face and drop it on his desk. He shifted in his chair as he rested his head in his hands and she heard a soft groan. She glanced over and saw that Norris was still up at the counter talking to the person who had come in and noticed Doug had arrived as well and was up at the counter too.

She grabbed the scone bag and walked over to Logan's desk. "Want half?" she asked holding the bag up. He looked up at her with a small smile and shrugged. She reached into the bag and pulled out the scone and split it into two pieces and gave him one.

"How bad are your ribs?" she asked as she took a closer look at his eye.

He shrugged again. "They x-rayed me and said nothing was broken."

"Maybe you should take the day off. I'm sure Leo could call in someone to cover for you right?"

"It's not really that bad Veronica… but I do appreciate the concern."

"That's what friends are for right?" She asked with a tender smile.

He looked down at his desk and let out a breath before he nodded. "Yeah." She got the feeling he was avoiding something, although she wasn't sure what but wondered if it could have something to do with Dick after what Norris had told her. "So anything new on your embezzlement case?" He asked as he looked up at her again.

"Oh… right… Todd's coming in a little later to talk to me so I can find out what he knew about the dead guy…" She paused a moment. _What if Sebastian tags along just to see me?_ "Um… Did you know Sebastian is Todd's cousin?" She saw a slightly frustrated look cross his face before he nodded. "I thought I'd mention it, you know… in case he comes in with him later. They were together this morning when I called." She bit on her lip for a moment. _Maybe I should bring up Dick and see how that goes._ "They were out golfing and I'm pretty sure Dick was with them too."

She watched him clench his jaw for a second. "Probably, Dick and Todd are pretty good friends."

"Are you still good friends with him too? Dick that is."

"Nope," Logan said with a solemn look on his face.

"Why not?" she asked a bit cautiously.

"We just aren't." Logan replied as he took a bite of the scone and then let out a quiet bitter laugh as he kept staring at the scone. "I suppose I should have bought him some 'sorry for being a jackass' scones." He let out a deep breath. "Although I don't think even buying him a whole scone factory would probably have been enough. Look… I _really_ don't feel like talking about it."

"Yeah… sorry… I didn't mean to pry."

He looked up at her with a sly grin. "I'm not sure you know the definition of prying then."

She laughed softly and shook her head. "Okay I _was_ trying to pry, but I'll stop."

He nodded and smiled a bit more mischievously. "Thanks… is there a twelve step program for that? If you need a sponsor, let me know."

"I'm not that bad am I?" she asked, although deep down she knew the answer.

He held up his hands as if surrendering. "I plead the fifth on that one."

"First prickly, now prying… you're really a great boost to the ego there Echolls." She replied a bit sarcastically. "So glad I'm back... At least people in San Francisco said bad things behind my back and not to my face."

"Hey now, you're the one who called yourself prickly… I think I went with judgmental and scary." He replied with a smirk, but then his expression changed to be more concerned and he looked down for a moment before looking back up at her. "Did something happen in San Francisco Veronica? Is that why you really came back?"

"No…" She shook her head as she answered. "I just…" she took a deep breath. "I just didn't fit in that well with some of the team."

He gave her a tender smile and nodded. "Well their loss is our gain."

_How does he do that? Go from being a pain in the ass to all supportive in under a minute._

"How're you feeling today?" Doug asked as he walked over toward the two of them. Logan turned slowly in his chair to face him.

"Little sore, but not too bad."

Doug leaned in closer to see the stitches. "Impressive. Good thing chicks dig scars." Doug said as he leaned back against one of the other desks.

Veronica internally cringed for a moment thinking about all the scars that were still on Logan's body from years of Aaron's abuse. She knew they'd faded overtime, but there were some she doubted would ever completely be gone. Not to mention all the emotional scarring that did to him.

"Yep, those and tats, sure fire way into a chick's pants Devlin." Logan said as he shook his head at Doug and scoffed a bit.

Veronica could see a small blush cross Doug's face as he laughed nervously. "That's not what I meant man."

"What, does your 'I love Mom' tat not get you tons of chicks Doug?" Veronica couldn't help but ask in a playful voice with a little wink.

Doug looked even more embarrassed and shook his head at both of them. "Great Echolls, you're rubbing off on her."

Logan laughed and shook his head. "Oh no, I'm not going to get blamed for that. She's just been on good behavior until now. Now the real Veronica Mars is going to come out to play. Be afraid… be very afraid."

Veronica couldn't help the smirk that crossed her face. "No I like the 'lets blame Echolls' idea."

Norris happened to finally walk back over at that point. "And what do we get to blame Echolls for now?"

"For turning Veronica into a feisty smart ass like himself." Doug chimed in before either Veronica or Logan could respond.

Norris laughed and nodded his head. "Yeah, let's blame Echolls for that," he replied with a smug grin.

Logan shook his head at all of them. "Sure, I get blamed for everything else around here, so why not that. Last week you all blamed me for the air conditioner malfunction. Like I sabotaged the 25 year old unit, rather than it was just so old it finally failed."

"Oh and don't forget we blamed you for stealing the snacks out of Bridges desk drawer." Norris added with a wicked smile.

Logan laughed and nodded. "Okay, maybe I was guilty of that one."

"I knew it!" Doug yelled as he pointed at him. "You jackass. You put all the wrappers in my desk so he'd think it was me!"

Logan laughed harder and kept nodding.

"Don't you all have any work to do?" Leo's voice boomed through the room as he walked into the station. "I'm sure there's someone breaking a law somewhere." Leo must have suddenly noticed the state Logan was in. "Can I see you in my office Echolls?" he asked with a frustrated tone as he turned and headed into his office.

Logan nodded and grimaced slightly as he stood up from his chair. Veronica watched as Norris let out a deep sigh and shook his head as Logan went into Leo's office and closed the door behind him.

Veronica sat down and realized she left her phone on her desk when she stood up to talk to Logan. She saw she'd missed another text and unlocked her phone to check it.

'Was thinking of stopping by with Todd so I could say hi, but thought I should check to see if Echolls is working. Don't want to make it tough on you.'

She quickly sent off her reply. 'Yes, he's working today.' _Well he is unless Leo sends him home_.

A minute later another text came through from him. 'Too bad. Are you off tomorrow? I'd love to take you on a real dinner date.'

She sighed deciding what to write back. Of course she had dinner at Alicia's, but should she suggest a different day or just say she was busy. She stared at Logan's empty chair while she tried to decide what to do. She could imagine that Sebastian's week was probably pretty busy with work too, so it could still be awhile for them to find a day that would work. She finally made up her mind and texted back. 'Off, but have family dinner plans. Rain check?'

'Do you like to sail? Todd's taking his family's boat out tomorrow and we could get you back in time for dinner?'

She stared at her phone for a few moments trying to decide. _Hang out at home all day alone or go out sailing? It would also be less of a date too if other people will be there._ _Logan did say I should be able to see whoever I wanted and he'd try to be less of an asshole about it._ She finally took a deep breath and texted back. 'Sounds fun. What time?'

'Tennish, Albacore Club, slip 7. Or I could pick you up.'

Veronica took a sharp breath when she read it. 2 spots away from where the Echolls had kept their boat. She stared at it for a minute before finally replying that she'd just meet him there. She decided that would be easier for her to make a quick escape when they were back if needed.

She heard the door to Leo's office open and turned to see Logan walking out. "Your turn Clayton," he said with a smirk.

Norris let out a deep sigh and stood up and walked to Leo's office, closing the door behind him.

"Is he sending you home?" Veronica asked as Logan was walking by her desk.

He shook his head. "No, I talked him out of it."

"Were you in any trouble?"

Logan laughed, "I'm always in trouble. No more than usual though." He paused and laughed a bit harder before he continued. "Although I am being punished."

"How so?" she asked curiously.

"I have to work with you today," he said with a wink.

"That is cruel and unusual punishment," she replied with a wicked grin.

"Yeah, I threatened to report him to the Mayor, but he rambled off something about insubordination, so we called it a draw." He sat down in his chair and slowly spun it so he could face her again. "Basically, he wants me taking it easy unless we get busy and all need to go out."

"So a normal day then?" she asked with a playful tone.

"You got it," he replied as he nodded. "So… anything I can help you with on the McDade case?"

"Now that I traced down the login that was being used, I've found five different companies that have had payments authorized using his account. I'm sure they're all fake, but if you want to help me look into them, that would be great. I'm going back through the employee reviews for the deceased employee to see if I can piece together who he may have worked closely with on projects. I was thinking if he regularly worked with some of the same team members, maybe he'd given his password to one of them."

Logan nodded and she passed him a piece of paper with the names of the companies. The next hour passed by pretty quickly as she was working on a list of the people the dead guy had worked with and Logan had checked into the companies. Norris and Doug had taken a couple calls as well as another team that was also on-duty, so it had been fairly quiet in the office. Veronica was about to ask Logan to help her start looking into financial records of the list of co-workers she'd pulled together when Todd arrived. She was relieved that Sebastian had checked with her and not come along, especially since Logan was helping her with the case now today.

Veronica walked over and greeted Todd at the front counter and then had him follow her over to her desk so she could grab a notepad and her files.

"That looks painful," Todd said with a slight cringe as he spotted Logan's injuries.

Logan laughed softly and nodded, before reaching out and shaking Todd's hand. "I've had worse," Logan replied with a grim smile as Todd nodded in reply. "Good to see you, it's been a while." Logan added as they shook hands. Veronica found it interesting that Logan seemed to be on good terms with Todd even though he was Sebastian's cousin and still good friends with Dick.

"How's Bex doing?" Todd asked as they all walked toward the interrogation room.

"She's doing great. She was in LA this week doing a photo shoot for Fox and Rose, and then next week she's doing one for the LA boutique of Faire Frou Frou."

"Nice," Todd replied with an appreciative leer.

"She's heading to Paris though a week from tomorrow, and will probably be gone for at least a month. Of course if she gets some new offers once she's there, it could end up being even longer."

"That sort of sucks for you, man," Todd said with a tinge of sympathy to his voice.

Logan shrugged. "Yeah… she was trying to get me to fly over and spend at least a week with her in the middle of the assignment, but I don't really want to hassle with it."

Veronica noticed he phrased it a bit differently than what he'd told Bex the day before on the phone. Not wanting to hassle with it and not being able to get time off from work weren't exactly the same thing.

Todd laughed. "We'll see… after she's been gone a couple weeks, you may decide it's totally worth the hassle to get to see her again. Didn't you say the same thing when she went to Brazil for a month and then you ended up flying down there a week after she left?"

Logan chuckled and shook his head. "It was three weeks after she left, and I had some leave due me anyway. That was before we lost Beckett and Stevens though, so we had more deputies then."

They'd entered the room and taken a seat at the table. "Well now you have the very capable Veronica Mars helping you," Todd said with a warm smile. Before Veronica could reply though, Todd turned his focus back to Logan. "You still owe me for introducing the two of you, you know."

"Oh believe me… I definitely _blame_ you for my misery sometimes."

Todd laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, I've heard she can be challenging at times."

"You have no idea," Logan said as he scoffed slightly and shook his head.

Veronica opened her file folder which seemed to draw their attention back to her.

"So what can I help you with?" Todd asked as he shifted in his seat to face toward her a bit more.

"I was wondering how well you knew Gordon Lowell? He worked at the firm up until his death about two years ago."

Todd's expression changed to be one of surprise. "I can't say I ever expected his name to come up in your investigation. I did internships during the summers at the firm, so I did know him. We didn't hang out or anything like that, but I would see him around and sat in on some of his project reviews. He was a bit introverted, but seemed like a genuinely nice guy. What could he have to do with this since he's been dead for almost two years?"

Veronica explained what she'd discovered with his login information and then asked Todd if they could look over the list she'd made of people he'd worked with on projects to see if there were any he seemed to be close to that could have had access to his private login. Veronica was taking notes as Todd thought back to what he did know about Gordon and the people on her list. Veronica noticed Logan had started typing on his phone and seemed to be more absorbed in that rather than the information that Todd was sharing. _If I find out he was sexting with Bex instead of helping me..._ She tried to shift her focus back to Todd and away from the angry thoughts trying to creep into her head about Logan and Bex.

After about ten minutes of her taking notes and watching Logan tap and type on his screen out of the corner of her eye, she was about to suggest that if he had more important things to do he could just leave. She took a deep breath and was about to say it when Logan spoke first.

"Belinda Morris," Logan said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Veronica asked and then remembered there was a Belinda Morris at McDade. "She didn't work on any projects with him."

"That actually makes sense!" Todd exclaimed, nodding enthusiastically.

"Why do you say that?" Veronica asked as she gave Todd a puzzled look.

"I think he may have had a thing for her. They didn't work on projects together, but I would see him helping her on some of hers sometimes."

Veronica glanced at Logan who had a satisfied grin on his face.

"And probably 6 to 9 months ago, she started dressing in more designer labels and even bought a new car."

Veronica was slightly annoyed that he hadn't thought to mention that before when she first mentioned Gordon. "Do you know if anyone asked her about it?"

Todd nodded. "Yeah, the story I heard though was she had a wealthy relative... an uncle in Florida I think... that passed away and left her a big inheritance."

"More like Uncle Gordon," Logan said with a slight snicker.

Veronica turned quickly to look at him. "How did you come up with that?" she asked him with a confused expression on her face.

"Well his work account wasn't the only thing still active. He had a Facebook account and I was looking through his friends for people from McDade. He seemed to leave quite a few friendly comments on her page before he died, so she seemed like a possibility. She also seems to have taken quite a few more exotic vacations recently." Logan held up his phone to a picture of a smiling brunette in a bikini holding up a margarita in some tropical setting.

"So that's what you were doing," Veronica commented as she looked at the picture.

She looked up at him to see that he had an eyebrow quirked at her. "What did you _think_ I was doing?" he asked almost defensively.

"I don't know," she replied quickly with a shrug. "Great job though!" She added with a beaming smile. "It sure sounds like she's probably our suspect."

Logan nodded still looking at her a bit skeptically.

"I'll start looking into her financial records and maybe you can check into the dead uncle story just so we can refute that?"

"I think she did actually take some leave to go to Florida for a funeral, so there may actually be an uncle or she just made that up for her cover story." Todd chimed in.

"Thanks again for helping. I really do appreciate you coming in today to talk to us," Veronica said as they all started to stand up from the table.

"Yeah, no problem," Todd replied as he pushed his chair back in. "Sounds like I'll be seeing you tomorrow too. Not sure if Sebastian mentioned it, but the temperature can really vary between morning and afternoon, so I'd suggest wearing something warmer and then bring something else to change into. If it's nice enough we may stop and swim too."

Veronica could see Logan out of the corner of her eye and saw his jaw clench. She gave Todd a friendly smile and nodded. "Thanks."

"Yep, no problem," Todd said as he exited the room and headed toward the front door. "See you tomorrow."

She watched as Logan headed straight to his desk without another word to her. _So much for things not being awkward between us today because of Sebastian._ She let out a small sigh and continued on to her desk as well. She noticed that Norris and Doug must have been out on a call since they still weren't in the station. She was watching Logan deciding what she should say when he spun around in his chair a little abruptly.

"I'm going to run across to the deli and get something to eat. I'll work on your case when I get back," he said tersely. He stood up probably too quickly and she saw him grimace again.

"I could go and get something for you," she quickly offered.

"I can get it myself," he replied brusquely and headed toward the door.

She let out a frustrated sigh after he walked out. It was extremely obvious he was pissed. _He didn't even bother to ask if I wanted him to pick up something for me._ She was about to stand up to go get her leftovers from the fridge when her cell phone sounded that she had a new text message. She didn't recognize the number and debated about ignoring it until after she ate, but decided to open it first.

'Sorry, I'm being an ass. Did you want something from the deli?'

She let out a small sigh as a faint smile crossed her lips. 'Brought leftovers, but thanks'

He sent a quick okay back and she headed back to the small break room to get her food from the fridge after saving his number in her phone. She still had the same number from college but he must have gotten a new one sometime since then. She was a little surprised he'd saved her number though if he'd changed phones. She was leaning by the microwave waiting for her food to warm up when her phone beeped and she saw that it was Logan's number again.

'Want to eat outside with me?'

She smiled again and replied back that she did. He sent back a message that he would be out on one of the benches in the small courtyard next to their building and asked her to have Selma call them if she needed them. She finished heating up her food, checked in with Selma and then headed out to the courtyard. He was already sitting on one of the benches and gave her a half smile as she walked over to sit next to him.

"Sorry that I sort of snapped at you before I left."

"It's okay. I know this isn't exactly easy."

"I bought you a peace offering," he said with a shy smile. She felt her heart melt a little bit at the expression and the gesture. He reached into a small paper bag sitting next to him and pulled out a large brownie wrapped in cellophane.

"I think you need to stop being an ass or I'm going to need a new wardrobe too," she replied playfully as she bumped her shoulder into his and then took the brownie.

He chuckled and nodded. "Yeah for some reason healthy foods don't really seem apologetic enough."

He took a bite of his sandwich and so she did the same with her fettuccine. After a few minutes of eating in silence he spoke up again. "So going sailing tomorrow?" She'd just taken a big bite of noodles and could only nod in reply. She wondered if he'd done that intentionally. "We haven't gone sailing in quite a while. Sounds nice though... being out on the ocean… Maybe I'll see if Bex wants to go out before she leaves for Paris. I have Monday off, so we could sail out to Catalina tomorrow and just come back Tuesday morning."

She nodded along as he spoke and tried not to look bothered by it at all. _I suppose sharing plans is something friends do though and that he's not doing it intentionally to bother me._

"We always get along better when we're on the water anyway. And I love lying on the deck at night listening to the waves and watching the stars." He stopped and took another bite of his sandwich. "What time are you headed out tomorrow?" he asked after he swallowed.

"10."

"If you make it to the marina before then, you should stop by and I'll show you my yacht. It's pretty nice. Picked it up about two years ago."

She knew Aaron had left the Echolls' yacht to Trina in his will and that she'd turned around and sold it almost immediately for cash. Of course she did her best to really capitalize on it having been Aaron's boat to get top dollar. She wasn't sure seeing Bex hang all over Logan first thing in the morning was what she wanted to do though. "Maybe," she replied a bit uncertainly.

"Well I hope you do. Bex likely won't make it back from LA before eleven, so I'll just be there getting everything ready to go. Slip 24, it's a different dock than Todd's is on, though close to it. They only have 12 slips on each dock."

Veronica nodded again. "I'll try to if I'm awake early enough."

"Fair enough," he let out a soft laugh. "You never were one for early mornings."

_Only if the early morning activity involved sex with you... don't go there Veronica._ She smiled and nodded again. "Hey, thanks for your help with my case. I really do appreciate that you may have found our culprit."

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure you would have found her too after going through the list you already had with Todd." He took the last bite of his sandwich and watched her finish off the fettuccine. "Ready to head back in?"

She nodded and stood up. He stood up a bit slower and she caught a small grimace again and couldn't help the sympathetic look that crossed her face.

"I'm fine Veronica, just a little sore."

She wasn't that convinced. "You're sure you didn't break any?"

He nodded again. "Do you want to see for yourself?" He asked with a brow cocked.

She sighed. She wanted to show him that she believed him, especially after the misunderstanding at Luigi's. "I believe you."

Logan laughed. "You need to work on sounding more convincing," he said with a smirk. He reached down and started to pull on the edge of his uniform to untuck it from his pants. She quickly put her hand on his.

"Logan, I believe you. You don't have to show me," she said as she looked intently into his eyes.

"And here I thought it was just an excuse for you to try to see my naked chest." He said with a smirk.

Veronica rolled her eyes and quickly turned to walk back inside. "Funny," she said calmly as she continued to walk toward the building. She certainly didn't want to give him a chance to catch anything in her expression that might give away that she really did want to see his naked chest. _Like that's a visual you need stuck in your brain… _She could easily tell even without his shirt off that he was much more muscular and toned than he had been as a nineteen year old. …_the amply toned chest of the guy you really want, but can't have… Yeah, that wouldn't be difficult to deal with at all, now would it Veronica?_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback and support so far! I had a bit of a tough time with this one, so please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! I'd love to hear what everyone thinks Veronica would be thinking and feeling at the end of this one. If you were her how would you be reacting to all the events in this chapter?**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 14

Veronica quickly made her way back to her desk with Logan following a few steps behind her after they finished their lunch in the courtyard. She sat the brownie he'd given her on her desk, planning to have it a little later since she was pretty full from the fettuccini. Suddenly she had a flashback to a conversation with Mac at Hearst about Logan and Piz and how they'd compared Logan to fettuccini. She shook her head and tried to clear that from her mind. She most definitely still wanted the fettuccini, but it was someone else's now, so she'd just have to settle for something else.

"Do you have some personal information on Belinda that would help me look into the uncle?" Logan asked as he was walking by her. She nodded and said she'd need a few minutes to find it in the personnel records, trying to clear her mind of food comparisons. "That's fine. I'm just going to make a quick call then." She nodded and he headed back to one of the interrogation rooms instead of making it at his desk. She couldn't help but notice the stark difference to when he was going to make a call and when they came in when he was already at his desk. She wondered about his sudden need for privacy when he didn't seem hesitant to take fairly personal calls at his desk before.

She had just printed out two copies of Belinda's personnel file when Leo returned from lunch. "How's the case going?" he asked as he walked by her desk on his way to his office.

"Great, we had a big break in it I think."

"Why don't you and Echolls give me an update?" He looked around the station with a frown on his face. "He didn't go out on a call by himself did he?" She could easily see the anger he was trying to suppress.

She shook her head. "No. He's just in an interrogation room on the phone."

She watched him physically relax somewhat as he nodded and continued walking through the station. "Grab him then and meet me in my office."

She nodded before turning to pick up her file for the case and then headed back to the room Logan had gone into. She knocked softly on the door and waited a moment.

"Yeah?" Logan called out on the other side of the closed door. She opened it and poked her head through.

"Sorry... Leo wanted us to give him an update."

He nodded and held up his finger indicating one minute. "Hey babe, I need to go... Yeah, just meet me at the yacht after you run by your condo and get your stuff... Well if it's going to be later than noon let me know and I may run up to the club and just eat lunch there... I gotta run Bex... Okay see ya tomorrow."

He ended the call and gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry..." He stood with a slight grimace and waved toward the door. "Lead the way tiny one."

She narrowed her eyes at him, making him laugh. "Sorry... Deputy Mars?" he rephrased with a questioning expression though still the hint of a smirk.

"That's better," she replied as she shook her head at him. She turned and led the way to Leo's office. She couldn't help but notice his comment to Bex about '_her_' condo. She'd been wondering if they were living together but hadn't wanted to ask. She'd wondered how serious things were since it sounded like they fought a lot and she was surprisingly relieved that they weren't cohabitating. She also had noticed that in the phone calls she'd overhead, the 'L' word was never mentioned either. She knew he hadn't said it to her over the phone very often when they were together, but there had been a few times that he had.

Leo was extremely pleased with the progress on the case as Veronica gave him the update. Logan didn't actually interject much and sat quietly listening to her tell Leo what they had discovered. Leo didn't seem terribly surprised that Logan had actually been the one to find the link to Belinda when Veronica shared that with him. It made her wonder how many similar cases he'd worked on.

When they were finished updating Leo and had gone back out to their desks, Norris and Doug were also back in the station again. It was the first time they'd been there in the last couple hours since they'd been out jumping from call to call the rest of the time. Doug started telling them about a crazy call they had just gotten back from where they had to arrest a guy for trespassing on his ex-mother-in-law's property and how the lady was actually trying to put a curse on the guy while they were putting him in the car and then the guy wanted them to arrest her for putting a previous curse on him that gave him athlete's foot and warts.

"I think I've actually arrested that guy before. Unless there's another guy who was also cursed with athlete's foot and warts," Logan said with a laugh as he took the information on Belinda from Veronica's desk and went back to his own.

After that Doug and Norris spent time catching up on the paper work from all their earlier calls while Logan and Veronica continued their research on Belinda. About a half hour later another call came in that Norris and Doug went out for, leaving the two if them alone again. Logan scooted his chair over to Veronica's desk and gave her a satisfied smile. "No dead uncle in Florida, at least not a blood relative anyway. Both her parents were only children."

"Perfect, thanks," she said as she added that to her case notes. She looked up at him again after writing it down. "Have you worked on many embezzlement and fraud cases?"

Logan shrugged. "A few, yeah."

Veronica bit on her lip thinking for a moment. "So if I wasn't here, this probably would have been your case?"

"Probably, but it's fine Veronica. I don't care that Leo assigned it to you if that's what you're worried about."

She shrugged. "Well maybe he'll let us work on future ones together."

"Yeah maybe," he replied with a slight nod and a small smile.

"You found her impressively quick." _And I'm the one who spent a year in a fraud unit._

"Yeah, but you found the hard part. I just got lucky surfing social media," he replied with a kind smile.

She nodded and turned back to digging into Belinda's financial records again. She couldn't help but think about how modest Logan was being about identifying the suspect. Back in San Fransisco it was so competitive on her team that whoever would have identified the suspect would have made a huge deal out of it. It was nice working with a group of deputies that seemed to all get along and weren't cut-throat about one-upping each other all day long.

It was starting to get close to dinner time when Logan's phone rang again. "Hey man… yeah, he's probably tied up on the call he just went out for… sounds great… yeah she is, let me check." He pulled his phone away from his face and set it down on his thigh. "Hey Veronica?" She'd been looking at her laptop, even though she'd been listening to him. She looked up to see what he wanted. "Brandon was going to pick up a couple pizzas and bring them over for Norris, Doug and I for dinner. Did you want something too? Any special requests?"

She shrugged. "I guess I'll take a slice of whatever you guys normally get." She wasn't going to be picky and make a special request. It did feel a little odd that Brandon was calling Logan and then bringing them all pizza, but it didn't seem like much of a surprise to Logan based on his demeanor and response when Brandon called.

Logan smiled and nodded and picked the phone back up. "Make sure you get plenty of those breadsticks, Veronica loves those." She laughed softly and shook her head. Of course it was true, but she was surprised he remembered to even mention it. "Yeah, just have them put it on my tab." Logan continued. "No, I'm pretty sure it's my turn this time, I think you bought last Saturday." Logan let out a deep breath. "Of course he told you about that… yeah it's not that bad. Leo sort of grounded me here with Veronica for the day though." Logan chuckled somewhat loudly which of course made Veronica a bit annoyed that she didn't know what Brandon had said. "Okay, see you in about 30 minutes."

Veronica was still watching him as he ended the call and sat his phone on his desk. "I didn't realize you and _Fire Marshall Bill_ were such good friends," Veronica said with a smirk.

Logan laughed and shook his head at her. "Yeah, we all hang out, you know… play poker, shoot pool… whatever." He shrugged before he continued. "I told you he was a good guy. I actually do know that first hand." He paused a minute before he continued. "He may stay and eat some pizza with us too. At least he usually does. Is that going to be a problem?"

Veronica shook her head. "No of course not. I'm fine with that. I never meant to make things awkward with him."

"Okay, good." Logan said as he turned back toward his desk again.

The next 30 minutes went by excruciatingly slowly with Veronica trying to focus on her research, while she was trying not to think about her personal life that seemed to be getting more and more complicated. When she decided to come back to Neptune, she never really expected things to get quite like this. She'd really hoped initially to figure out how to fix things with Logan so they could get back together again. Of course Bex totally ruined that plan and so she was trying to still convince herself that just being friends was enough. Then there were Brandon and Sebastian who both seemed interested in her. A part of her was telling her she should give one of them a chance, but another part couldn't let go of wanting Logan back and that part was the one that pointed out all the little flaws in Logan and Bex's relationship. _It really sucks to be so totally torn between doing what logically makes sense and what I really want even if it is a bad idea._

Brandon arrived with the pizzas before Doug and Norris were back from their last call. Leo had also left to have dinner with Jane and so it was just Logan and Veronica left alone at the station again when he arrived.

"Hi Veronica," Brandon said as he walked in carrying two pizza boxes and a bag balanced on top of them. She said a quick hello back as he headed toward Logan's desk and stopped there, setting the boxes down on his desk. "Ouch man," Brandon said as he leaned in closer to look at Logan's injuries. "Norris said your ribs got pretty pummeled too. Worse than last month?"

Logan shook his head. "No that one was worse. Although they always seem to land shots in almost the same spot which sucks. Hopefully this time it won't bruise quite as badly."

"Yeah, that was pretty bad last time. Norris and Doug still out?"

Logan nodded and stood up from his desk slowly. "I'll grab some plates from the break room," Logan said as he turned and walked in that direction.

"How's the fraud case going?" Brandon asked Veronica with a warm smile on his face as he turned to face her desk. "Norris mentioned you were making some pretty good progress on it."

"Yeah," she replied back with a kind smile as well. "It's going really well. Logan helped me with it today."

Brandon nodded. "Yeah, Norris has said before that Logan seems to be surprisingly good at figuring those types of cases out. Logan always jokes around that it's because he thinks like a criminal, but I don't think that's it at all. I think he's just better at figuring out cases than people give him credit for. I've got to admit, I never expected him to be so modest when I first met him and then heard about all the stuff he did when he was growing up." Brandon chuckled a bit, "Of course about non-work stuff, like poker or surfing, there's absolutely no modesty there."

Veronica nodded in understanding. She'd noticed even since she'd been back that he seemed like two different people sometimes. "Do you surf?" she asked curiously.

"A little. Logan's dragged me out a few times to surf with him, but I'm not really all that good at it. I'm at least better than Norris. He spends 99% of the time in the water and 1% on the board. I'm at least fifty-fifty. Do you surf too?"

Veronica shook her head. "No, Logan tried teaching me once a long time ago, but I never really got very good at it."

"It's definitely a tough sport."

"What is?" Logan asked as he finally came back out with some plates and napkins.

"Surfing," Brandon replied as he took one of the plates Logan handed him. Logan handed one to Veronica too.

"It's not that tough. You're getting better at it. Man, we haven't actually gone in a while though have we?"

Brandon shook his head and picked up the bag that was on top of the boxes. "Breadstick?" he asked Veronica as he held the bag out toward her. She nodded and smiled and took the bag from him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Dude!" Logan said emphatically. "Don't give her the entire bag, or there won't be any for us."

Veronica laughed and stuck her tongue out at him. "Definitely none for _Logan_ now."

Logan shook his head at her and spread out the boxes so he could open them. Veronica stood up and walked over to get a slice and smiled when she saw the same thing she'd had at Cho's with Norris and Brandon on half of one of the pizzas. She gave Brandon a small smile and thanked him when she saw the kale, sausage and ricotta. She knew it was especially for her because they'd teased her a bit about it being an odd combination the night they'd all had pizza together. He gave her a friendly smile in return and nodded. Doug and Norris came back a few minutes later and they both grabbed some plates and pizza too. Brandon stuck around for a little while as they were all eating and talking, but then he said he was exhausted since he'd had an extra long shift and was going to head home. Veronica thanked him again for getting her favorite as he was leaving and he gave her a warm smile and said he was just glad he got it right.

About 5 minutes after Brandon had left a call came in on the general line. Logan had just taken the left over pizza to the break room and so Norris was the one who answered the call. Veronica glanced over at Norris to see if she could tell what type of call it was. She knew the specific line it had come in on was one that the other emergency services would use to contact the sheriff's department when they needed their assistance on calls.

"Okay… anyone else at the scene?" She noticed he didn't write anything down and his expression was extremely troubled. "Thanks. We'll send someone there."

Logan had walked back out of the break room and froze as Norris turned and looked at him with an obviously devastated expression on his face.

"Fuck," Logan said before Norris even had a chance to say a word.

"Logan," Norris replied in a warning tone while he quickly stood up from his desk.

"I'm going to kill the fucker this time," Logan said as he headed toward his desk. Norris intercepted him and grabbed him by the shirt, pushing on him enough to make Logan cringe and stop.

"You're not going after him Logan," Norris said in an angry tone. "We need testimony from someone to arrest him."

"I didn't say anything about arresting him," Logan spat back angrily.

"You're not going after him," Norris repeated as he kept a hold on Logan's shirt.

"Ian?" Logan asked through clenched teeth.

Norris shook his head. "The paramedics said only Lacey was taken to the hospital and that there wasn't anyone else at the scene."

"Get out of my fucking way Clayton," Logan said angrily.

"No… you're not going after him. I'm not going to let you fuck up your career over that piece of shit, Logan. Somehow I think this time you'd do more than break his fucking jaw if you find him, so you're not going after him." Norris still had a hold of Logan and wasn't backing down at all. "You're going to take Veronica and go to the apartment and find Ian. See if any of the neighbors saw or heard anything we can use this time. Doug and I will try to find Goran, but we really need proof to arrest him. The paramedics said…" he hesitated and took a deep breath. "They said she's unconscious but they'll call as soon as she's awake. We'll at least find him, see if there's any physical evidence we can use on him."

_Goran? Why do I know that name?_ Veronica had been quietly watching the scene unfold in front of her without trying to make it worse, especially since she really had no idea exactly what was going on. She noticed Doug seemed to be doing the same as she glanced over quickly at him. He was completely focused on the other two and didn't notice she'd even looked at him. _Fuck… wait… Dylan Goran?… the guy who beat up Trina?_

Logan pushed at Norris again, but Norris wasn't letting him go. "Fine," Logan finally spat at him pushing him again. "He's probably at River Stix."

"Do you really think he's stupid enough to go there? Knowing that's where you found him last week?"

"He'll probably want an alibi, and the scumbags there won't give a rat's ass about lying for him." Logan replied angrily.

"Okay, we'll check there. Would any of the other dancers at D's know where he might be if he's not there?"

Logan took a deep breath, but his jaws were still firmly clenched. "I don't know. Try Ruby maybe."

Norris nodded and grabbed his coat. "Find Ian," he said firmly as he looked intently at Logan. "Come on Devlin, let's go."

Norris and Doug headed out of the station without another word.

"You okay?" Veronica asked as she stood up and moved cautiously toward Logan.

"No," he said angrily as he grabbed his coat from his chair and headed toward the door. Veronica grabbed her own coat and walked as quickly as she could to keep up with him. Of course with his much longer legs it meant that she practically had to jog to catch up to him.

She was trying to piece things together in her mind as they walked out to the squad car. Neither Norris or Logan had said anything about an address so obviously it was someone that they both knew well enough to know the address without needing to write it down. She wondered who Ian was as well. They hadn't even said anything to each other before Logan freaked out. The look Norris had given him was enough for him to know exactly what the call was about. Things were quickly starting to fall into place. She figured if Logan broke Goran's jaw before, that was likely what got him suspended. Of course he wouldn't like Sebastian if he'd represented that asshole. And the fact that Norris mentioned D's, she figured that Lacey might work there. She couldn't help but wonder if she might have been the stripper that Mac mentioned Logan had dated.

"Who's Ian?" she finally worked up the nerve to ask as they climbed into the car.

"Lacey's 7 year old son," Logan answered tersely with his jaws still clenched.

Veronica didn't know what else she should say and whether what she did decide to say would make it better or worse. She didn't want to bother him with questions that didn't really matter or that she'd more or less figured out on her own. She wanted to ask him why he just didn't tell her about Goran before, but she was worried that might just make things worse. She finally decided to just ask if he was the same guy that beat up Trina.

Logan nodded slowly but didn't say anything. They arrived at an apartment complex that was in a slightly better neighborhood than she'd lived in with her dad, although still in a poorer area of Neptune. "I'll look for Ian if you want to talk with the neighbors," Logan finally said as they got out of the car.

"Do you want me to help you look first and then talk with them?" she asked cautiously.

"Okay," Logan said as she followed him toward an apartment on the second floor of the complex. The door was closed, but not locked. "I'll look in the closet in his room and you can check Lacey's." He pointed toward an open door on the left side of the hallway. Obviously he was quite familiar with the layout of the apartment, so her assumption that he'd probably dated Lacey seemed like the most likely scenario. She wondered how much of his anger was because of his feelings for Lacey versus his hatred for Goran. Veronica spotted a few pictures on her way through the small living room toward the bedroom of a beautiful blonde woman with a young boy who had the same color of hair. The woman looked to be about the same age as she was and also had striking blue eyes and wavy long hair that reminded Veronica of how she wore her hair her freshman year at Hearst. _I'm sure the fact she looks so much like you is just a coincidence and doesn't really mean anything._ It was obvious there had been a fight in the room with objects lying around on the ground and a broken lamp shattered across the floor as well.

"Ian?" Veronica said as she went into the bedroom. She stopped though when she realized that Logan hadn't actually called out for him when they came in. He'd gone into the room across the hall from where he'd sent her. She turned around and walked back toward the other room. She saw him opening the closet door before kneeling down and holding his arms out. A small body with short blonde hair flew into his arms and Logan wrapped his arms protectively around him. He stood up and walked back over to the bed and placed the boy there and then knelt down so he was eye level with him again. Neither of them had actually said anything yet, so she wasn't completely surprised when Logan's hands came up and he started to sign to him. The little boy signed something back to Logan and then started to cry when Logan nodded and signed back. Logan leaned forward and held on to him and slowly rubbed his back.

"I'll go talk to the neighbors," Veronica said softly and saw Logan nod his head without turning to look at her. She checked the apartments on either side and didn't get an answer at either, so she headed downstairs to the one below theirs. She knocked and waited a minute and then the door opened slightly, though she could see the security chain was still in place.

She pulled out her badge and identified herself as being a deputy at the Sheriff's department. The petite Asian woman who was at the door nodded, but didn't open the door any farther. "We're here because of an incident at the apartment above yours. Did you hear anything tonight?"

"Yes," the woman said a bit hesitantly. "We heard shouting and things breaking and so my husband went up stairs to check on Lacey. The door was open and he saw her lying on the ground and called 911."

"Did he see who had hurt her?"

The woman had a frightened look on her face and shook her head. "No, we didn't see anything."

"Could I talk to your husband?" Veronica asked next.

The woman shook her head again. "I'm sorry, but he works graveyard and left right after the paramedics came for Lacey."

"Did you recognize the voices?"

The woman shrugged. "I'm sure it was probably Lacey's boyfriend, but we couldn't actually hear enough to know for sure."

Veronica nodded with a compassionate expression. She wondered if the woman was afraid of Goran, or if they really didn't know. "If you or your husband remember anything specific that can help, will you please give the sheriff's department a call?"

The woman nodded hesitantly before she closed and locked the door. Veronica tried the apartments on the two sides of the one below Lacey's and one was empty and the other was occupied by an elderly woman who said she hadn't heard or seen anything. As Veronica was heading back to the stairs to go up to Lacey's apartment, Logan and Ian were on their way down.

"Any luck?" Logan asked. She could tell by his tone that he wasn't expecting her to have gotten anything to actually help them prove Goran had done it.

She took a deep breath and shook her head. "I talked to the woman in the apartment below theirs. She said they heard an altercation and her husband went up to check and was the one to call the paramedics, but they didn't hear or see anything that could be used to identify who had been there." Logan nodded grimly at her.

"Did Ian see anything?" she asked cautiously.

Logan shook his head and clenched his teeth before he finally started to talk in a low angry voice. "He said Lacey told him to go to his room when Goran had arrived. He could tell something was wrong with him and Lacey must have been worried about what was going to happen. But of course he didn't hear anything, and didn't see anything either. And we both know just saying he stopped by isn't going to hold any weight to prosecute him."

Veronica noticed he was carrying a backpack and gave him a small questioning look when she saw it. "I want to take him to his grandmother's house," Logan said in response to her look. Veronica nodded in understanding and turned to follow them to the car. Logan had his arm protectively around Ian's shoulder and the boy was walking slowly next to him.

Logan helped him into the back seat and then climbed into the front. "I didn't know you knew sign language," Veronica commented as he started to pull out of the parking lot.

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Yeah, I took a few classes for work."

She let out a deep breath as well. She hated how things were between them right now. It was glaringly obvious that Logan had put up impenetrable walls around himself ever since the call came in. "Logan, I'm not some stranger. Will you please talk to me?" 

"I _am_ talking, Veronica," he said abruptly as he continued to drive.

"You obviously know Lacey and Ian quite well. I'm really sorry this happened," she said trying to break through to him. She wasn't really sure what she expected him to do, but the icy coldness that had overtaken him since they left the station was really starting to concern her.

"So am I," he said tersely but didn't elaborate any further.

It took them about 20 minutes to drive to a residential area that wasn't very far from where Veronica had lived with her parents before her dad had been ousted from the Sheriff's position. It didn't escape Veronica's attention that Logan seemed to know exactly where the house was and didn't even use his GPS to find it. They also didn't say anything else to each other the rest of the way there. Logan turned off the car and Veronica opened her door to get out. "You don't have to come," Logan said as he opened his own door. She wasn't sure why, but she felt this urge to be there for him even if it probably wasn't necessary.

"I'd like to," she said softly as she climbed out and closed her door. She wasn't sure if he even heard her because he didn't say another word as he opened the back door for Ian. He put his arm around the boy's shoulder again and walked up the steps to the house with Veronica following right behind them.

It took a few minutes for someone to answer the door after Logan rang the doorbell. The expression on the woman's face who had opened the door instantly changed to one of disapproval when she saw who was at her door.

"What happened now?" she said in a cold voice as she looked squarely at Logan.

"Paramedics were called to her apartment and she was taken to the hospital. She's still unconscious so we don't know all the details yet."

The woman shook her head angrily at Logan as she reached out her hand for Ian. Ian hesitated for a moment, but then took her hand and stepped away from Logan moving into the house to stand next to the woman.

"This is all _your_ fault," she said bitterly. "If you'd just loved her the way she'd loved you, she never would have gotten involved with that bastard."

Logan took a deep breath and looked down at his feet. Before he even had a chance to say anything the woman slammed the door and Veronica heard the deadbolt being locked. Logan slowly turned around and headed back to the car without another word. Veronica stood frozen on the porch for a moment reeling over what had just happened before she turned and walked back to the car herself. Logan was already in the car staring at the steering wheel with his hands grasping it tightly when Veronica climbed in and closed her door.

"This isn't your fault Logan," Veronica said as she reached over and put her hand on top of his. Regardless of what may have happened between Logan and Lacey, she couldn't believe that her being with someone who would abuse her could in any way be his fault.

He immediately jerked his hand away from hers causing her to instinctively pull her hand back away from him as well. He sucked in a loud frustrated breath and clenched his fist in the air before exhaling and putting it back on the steering wheel.

"I'm sorry," he said distraughtly and then shook his head. "I told you I was an asshole now."

"I don't believe that," Veronica said without any doubt.

"Maybe you should," he said again, still staring straight ahead and not looking at her.

"Whatever happened to Lacey isn't your fault Logan, no matter what that woman said." She reached over and put her hand on his again. This time he didn't move it, but let out a slow breath. "I seriously doubt you encouraged her to be with Goran, so you can't blame yourself for this."

Logan's cell phone rang before she could say anything else and he answered it. She could tell by his response that it was the hospital. "Lacey's awake, so they said we could come and try to get a statement now," he explained somberly as he started the car.

They drove in silence to the hospital. There were a million questions she wanted to ask, but didn't think asking them now was a good idea. She glanced over at him a few times as he was driving and he had the same angry expression with his jaws clenched tightly shut. She wished she could reach him some how though and help him feel better. When they finally reached the hospital she reached over and grabbed his hand after he turned off the ignition. "Logan, look at me please." He took a deep breath and turned to look at her, though he only looked her in the eyes for a second before he looked down at her shoulder. "Logan this isn't your fault. You didn't do anything that caused this to happen. I'm sure you've had to deal with a lot of horrible things as a deputy and you know none of it was your fault. You can't take this one personally either no matter what Lacey's mom said to you. You understand that right?"

He glanced back at her eyes for a second and then looked away again. "It doesn't make it any easier Veronica." He took a deep breath. "Not when it's someone you… someone you've cared about."

"I know," she said as she squeezed his hand that she was still holding on to.

"We'd better go in," he said as he glanced up at her eyes for another second and then slowly pulled his hand away from hers. She nodded and climbed out as well.

They'd moved Lacey from the ER to a regular room because they were going to keep her a day or two given the extent of her injuries. When they reached her room, Logan hesitated at the door for a minute before he opened it to walk in. Veronica tried not to react when she saw how bruised and swollen Lacey's face was. Her right arm was in a brace and her left wrist was bandaged add well. Lacey's eyes immediately locked on Logan's, not even sparing a second to look at Veronica.

"Where's Ian?" she asked in an almost desperate tone.

"I took him to your mother's house," Logan said in a tone that was a bit more resigned than Veronica had expected.

Lacey shook her head and looked away from him down at her lap.

"Would you rather I have let him go to C.P.S., Lacey? Because that's the alternative you know," Logan continued with his voice taking on an edge of anxiety.

She shook her head but didn't look back up at either of them either. "Please tell me you're going to press charges this time?" Logan asked next, his tone changing so that the question came out more as a plea.

"Why do you care Logan," she finally asked defiantly as she looked back up and glared at him.

He took a deep breath before he answered. "Because I don't want Ian to loose his mother, like he lost his dad. He needs you and if you stay with Goran, he could end up killing you Lacey. Even if it doesn't get that bad, Ian doesn't deserve to see you go through this again. I also don't want him to hurt Ian either."

Lacey let out a frustrated breath and looked away from him again. "I don't know…" she finally said barely above a whisper.

"You know it's the right thing to do Lacey," Logan urged.

She laughed bitterly and shook her head. "_The right thing_? Really Logan? Since when do you know anything about '_the right thing_'?"

"I'm trying to do the right thing now okay damn it. I'm trying to protect both you and Ian. Look, I'm sorry I didn't feel the same way about you that you felt about me, but that didn't mean that I didn't care and I never wanted to see you get hurt like this Lacey. You deserve so much better than this. Better than Goran… better than me."

Lacey laughed bitterly again. "Yeah… because strippers deserve happy endings. This isn't a fucking movie Logan, its real life and sometimes it just turns out shitty."

"It doesn't have to be. Press charges… get a restraining order… just don't let him back in your life again. Please do it for Ian if you won't do it for yourself."

Veronica saw a tear roll down Lacey's cheek. "Fine… but you have to promise me you'll make sure he can't hurt Ian or me."

"I promise," Logan said with a relieved sigh.

She nodded and looked at him sadly. The next 20 minutes or so were spent getting her official statement of how Goran had come into the apartment, high on something and started pushing her around which then escalated to him beating her more violently. Logan called Norris and Doug, who were still out looking for him, but at least with her statement they could put out an A.P.B. to send to other agencies as well. Lacey had given them the address of Goran's apartment in LA so there was a high likelihood he'd gone back there. They'd have the LA police department send a few officers there to look for him.

When they were finished with Lacey they headed back to the car. "So was Goran the case that led to you being suspended that Sebastian was involved in?" she asked as they were pulling out of the hospital parking lot. Now that they had evidence to arrest Goran, she was hoping he'd be a little less on edge and maybe they could talk a little about it. Logan nodded but didn't say anything. "Why didn't you tell me that when I asked you why you didn't like Sebastian?"

Logan shrugged. "I still broke a suspect's jaw Veronica. Not exactly the exemplary deputy performance that would be expected. Not to mention it was because he'd beaten up my stripper ex-girlfriend." She instantly recognized the self-deprecating tone.

"Was it as bad as it was tonight?" she asked hesitantly. Logan shook his head. She wondered for a moment what he would have done if he had found Goran tonight after seeing Lacey. His comment earlier that he was going to kill him had still been echoing through her mind and after seeing Lacey beaten half to death, she wouldn't have been surprised at all if he'd tried to. She really hoped that Goran had gone back to LA and that he'd be apprehended at his apartment there. _And what the hell am I supposed to do about Sebastian now knowing who the scum bag was that he'd represented against Logan._ He'd told her that first time at lunch that he was just doing his job, but surely he had to have had some reservations about taking a case for a guy like that. He'd almost seemed confident that what Logan had done was totally wrong and that his client was in the right. She seriously doubted his client had been very innocent at all after seeing what he'd done to Lacey tonight. And then there was still the issue of Logan seemingly hating himself for everything that had happened.

"It's not always easy being a cop, Logan. I know I haven't had to deal with the same sort of fucked up cases, but my dad had to go through a lot when he was working for the Sheriff's department and I know it's never black and white."

He nodded and let out a deep sigh. "Thanks, Veronica."

She almost hated to ask the next question, but decided to anyway. "Do you think Sebastian will represent him again?"

Logan let out a frustrated breath. "I don't know…" He paused before he continued almost reluctantly. "But you'd better find out before…" He paused again as if he really didn't want to say what he was about to say. "…before you get involved with him… since you've helped on this case."

She nodded slowly, but didn't quite know what to say. They drove the rest of the way back to the station in silence. Norris and Doug were waiting for them inside.

"The LAPD already picked him up at his place," Norris said cautiously as they walked toward him.

"Good," Logan replied somberly. Veronica couldn't help but wonder if a small part of him hadn't wanted to be the one who found him. _Someone's always supposed to pay._

"Let's get a drink when you're off," Norris said to Logan, coming across more as a directive rather than a question. With the call coming in toward the end of their shift and how much time it took, Veronica realized her and Norris would have been off about 45 minutes ago, and Logan and Doug were almost done too.

Logan nodded and walked over toward his desk. "Wanna join us Mars, or are you headed home?" he asked as he caught her gaze on his way by her.

"Sure," she said with a slight nod.

"We can go and try to get a table," Norris added as he gestured with his head toward Veronica. "Buckley's?" He asked Logan.

Logan nodded as he sat down at his desk.

"I could stay and fill out the report Logan," Veronica offered as she walked closer to his desk.

"Thanks, I've got it though. Your shifts over anyway." He gave her a small half smile. "You should head over with Norris. Doug and I will catch up with you there."

She nodded and went over to grab her stuff to leave. Of course filling out report forms seemed more appealing than having to think about everything that just happened. She already knew her mind would jump to a million different places once she had nothing to do but reflect on it all. _Looks like you got your wish of wanting to know more about what happened between Logan and Sebastian, are you happy now Veronica? _


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N – Thanks for all the feedback and support so far! I'd also like to thank Bondopoulos for taking the time to give me some advice on this chapter and the last. Please take a minute and let me know what you thought of the chapter. I'm expecting more mixed feelings on it.**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 15

Norris gave Veronica directions to Buckley's as they were walking out of the station together. It was another newer bar that had opened in the industrial section of town. It wasn't close to Hearst so had a slightly older crowd of customers. Veronica thought it seemed to be mostly a mix of young professionals. It was fairly crowded but they got lucky and a small group was leaving right after they arrived and so they were able to snag their table.

Norris spotted someone he knew and asked if she'd be okay for a few minutes while he went to talk to them. He also said he'd grab a round of beers from the bar while he was up since the waitresses could be slow there when it was busy.

Veronica decided to people watch instead of letting her mind drift over the night's events. She was sure she'd end up doing plenty of that later and wasn't ready to let it start yet. She was watching a couple that looked like they were arguing about something when she heard someone sit down in the chair next to her and heard a glass clink on the table. She turned expecting it to be Norris and was caught a little off guard to see Brandon looking back at her, partly hidden by a baseball cap pulled down a little over his face.

"Hi," he said as she turned toward him. "Is it okay if I sit here?" he asked as he fidgeted with the glass of water he'd sat down in the table.

"Of course," she replied with a friendly smile. "I thought you'd gone home to go to sleep?" She cocked her eyebrow slightly in a questioning expression as she asked.

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I was asleep... thus the hat." He pointed to the cap with a smirk. "Norris called and told me about Lacey and wasn't sure how Logan was taking it and thought if he got a bit trashed I could drive his car home, so I took a cab over."

"Oh." She was a little surprised by that. "That was nice of you."

"Norris said you and Logan saw her... How bad was it this time?"

"She was pretty badly beaten up... I think he may have actually broken her arm... but she was able to talk to us at least." She could tell he was a little bothered to hear about her condition. "Are you friends with her too?"

Brandon shrugged. "Of course I knew her from when she dated Logan, but I don't know that I'd say we're friends now. It's just terrible that she got hurt. I could imagine it was hard for him to see her like that."

Veronica nodded. "Yeah the whole night seemed pretty hard on him." She couldn't help but think back to the reaction he got from both Lacey's mom and Lacey herself. "He must have really cared about her when they were together."

Brandon gave her a slightly uncertain look then shrugged. "I guess. It's hard to tell with him though. Of course he never likes to see a woman get hurt at all and having it be someone he personally knows, I'm sure it had to have made it even worse."

Veronica wasn't quite sure how to interpret his comment about Logan and Lacey, but her curiosity spurred her on. "Were they together for a long time?"

Brandon looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think it was probably a little under a year."

"Was that who he was with before Bex?"

Brandon shook his head. "No he dated Maddie in between the two of them."

_Maddie_? Veronica felt her chest tighten like there was a vice around it and then she suddenly felt nauseous as well. "Madison?"

Brandon shook his head again. "No, it was Madeline I'm pretty sure. She was a stewardess. Blonde, of course, because they all are… but from Georgia or someplace and had quite a strong southern accent. Personally I'm not sure I could have handled the accent all the time, but I suppose she was gone a lot too..." All of a sudden he looked totally flustered and a shade of light red crossed his cheeks. "I can't believe I just said that... Not that there's anything wrong with southern accents... It's just... God you probably think I'm the worst... I really shouldn't talk to people when I just wake up... "

Veronica couldn't help but tease him and replied in her most dramatic southern accent. "I do declare, I've never been so insulted in my entire life. How dare you sir." She at least chuckled slightly after she said it.

He looked even more embarrassed and covered his face with his hands. She reached up and pulled his hands down. "I'm just kidding... It's fine." He didn't quite look convinced. "Trust me I've heard much, much worse." He still looked slightly mortified that he'd said that to her. "You prefer da Russian accent?" She asked in her best Russian accent. He smiled a bit, and shook his head slightly still looking embarrassed. "Or do you prefer the Latin accent?" she asked in her best Martina Vasquez impersonation.

He finally seemed to relax again and shook his head. "I'll take just normal Veronica."

"Well that's a bit boring, but okay," she replied with a smile but then she became more serious again thinking back to what he'd said when he first sat down. "Do you think he'll get trashed over this?"

Brandon shrugged. "I'm sure he's pissed and would like to beat the guy to death, but I doubt that he's at that 'drink your grief away' stage over it."

_Interesting way to phrase that_. "Have you seen him at that 'drink your grief away' stage before?"

Brandon shook his head. "No. I don't really think he ever lets himself get close enough to anyone to get to that."

"Not over Lacey before, or Maddie or anyone else?"

Brandon shook his head again. "Nope. And I seriously doubt he would over Bex either. I just don't think he knows how to actually let himself feel that way about anyone. I've wondered before if it was just all the bad stuff that happened to him growing up you know... his dad being how he was... or his girlfriend being murdered... I just don't think he believes in loving someone enough to let it hurt him when it's over."

"Why would you think that?" Veronica asked not really sure what to think of his comment but it made her chest feel tight again and she felt a feeling of hopelessness pass through her.

Brandon shrugged and gave her a bitter smile. "Because he told me that..." He let out a sigh and looked like he was contemplating how much more to say before he finally started again. "When I first moved here I had a pretty serious girlfriend. Things fell apart though when she decided to go back East to college and didn't want to do the long distance thing, and we started fighting and then eventually we broke up. I sort of took it pretty hard and when we were out surfing one morning I guess he got tired of me moping about it. He said it was better to just never let yourself get close enough to anyone to risk getting hurt. That even if people think they are in love, eventually it falls apart and it never really lasts."

"That's pretty cynical. Are you sure he meant it like that?" Veronica asked very surprised by that. Logan used to seem like a hopeless romantic some of the time, so Brandon's story was hard for her to believe.

"Well it certainly seems to be how he acts. I've never seen him actually fall in love with anyone. It seems like he intentionally keeps them all at a distance and when they try to get too serious that seems to be the end. It happened with Lacey and it happened with Maddie and it will probably happen with Bex. Although she's almost as bad as he is so maybe they'll just keep playing their little game forever since neither one of them seems to want a real commitment." He stopped and studied her for a moment. "You dated him a long time ago, right? Was he different then? I can't imagine he saw many good examples of what real love should have been like given all that messed up crap he had to deal with growing up."

She couldn't quite find her voice and so shrugged instead with a concerned expression on her face.

"I did wonder if there was another girl who broke his heart though or if it was all because of the girl who died." He stopped again and seemed like he was trying to remember something. "When we were talking about my ex, he said he knew how I felt. That he'd poured his heart out to someone that he thought had loved him about a mistake he'd made when they weren't even together… That he'd left a heartfelt apology for her in a message saying how he wished more than anything that he could take back what happened and the girl never even called him back. He said that if love did exist then people would forgive the people they love and actually fight to work things out. I couldn't really tell if he was talking about his dead girlfriend though or not. He sort of shut down after that and wouldn't talk about it again though."

Veronica swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. It had to have been her that he was talking about, but she had no idea what message he was talking about.

Brandon must have been able to tell how shaken she was by what he'd said. "Hey, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking… I shouldn't have brought all that up, not after everything that's happened tonight... I really shouldn't be allowed out in public when I get woken up like this..." Veronica's hands were sitting on the table and Brandon reached over and squeezed the one closest to him. "I'm sorry Veronica."

Veronica took a deep breath and shook her head. "No… it's just… I didn't know…" Brandon gave her a slightly confused look but nodded. She knew he probably didn't have any idea which part of what he said she was actually talking about, but it didn't really matter.

"Oh shit," Brandon said as he tried to sink down in his chair and pulled his hat down a bit lower on his head with his free hand.

"Are we hiding from someone?" Veronica asked as she gave him a curious look.

He nodded and tried to sink down a bit more, but hadn't moved the hand that was squeezing hers. Veronica turned to look just as he blurted out quickly, "No don't look… she might know you."

"Veronica Mars?" a shrill high pitched voice called out as her eyes locked with the owner of the unmistakable voice. "It is you! I can't believe you're here!"

"Gia?" Veronica replied in surprise. Gia still looked very much like she had five years ago. She was still wearing her hair long and slightly wavy and dressing in designer clothes. Apparently the death of her father didn't seem to have any long-term detrimental impacts on her life at least.

Gia spotted Brandon next to Veronica. "Brandon?" Gia raised her eyes with a surprised expression. " I didn't realize the two of you were an item."

Veronica turned quickly back and realized his hand was still on hers. Brandon gave her a small pleading look and she decided to take pity on him since she knew that look well.

"Yep," Veronica said with a cheery smile. She leaned toward him and rested her head partly on his shoulder. "Sorry to say this one's off the market."

"Lucky you," Gia said with a pout toward Veronica. "So you're living in Neptune again? Or is this a long distance thing?"

"Nope, I'm living here again. Sounds like I'd better keep a close eye on my snookums here," she said giving Brandon a mischievous grin and a little wink.

Brandon gave her a small nervous smile. He obviously wasn't quite used to putting on shows like Veronica was. "Ah, you don't need to worry sweetheart, I only have eyes for you," he said a little cautiously.

"Ah, isn't he just the sweetest thing you've ever seen," she said back to Gia with a big smile. "I'm definitely not going to let this one get away." She reached up with her free hand and patted him gently on the cheek.

"Lucky you," Gia said in a tone that clearly indicated she wasn't actually happy for Veronica at all.

"Gia!" a young woman a little ways away from Gia called out. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah," Gia called over her shoulder. "Well I need to go, but it was really great seeing you. We should definitley get together sometime and catch up. That would be tons of fun."

"Yeah, tons," Veronica said with as chipper of a voice as possible. "Nice seeing you too."

Gia gave them a quick wave and turned to head in the direction that the other girl had gone.

"Thank you!" Brandon said with a grateful smile on his face.

Veronica laughed and nodded. She patted him on the cheek again. "Any time snookums."

He laughed while she was patting his cheek. "You may just be the most awesome woman I've ever met."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Logan said as he sat down across the table from them and gave them a mischievous smile.

Veronica dropped her hand from Brandon's cheek and felt her heartbeat speed up slightly, feeling a bit unsettled with Logan catching them like that. _Why should I care though, he's the one with a girlfriend?_

Brandon laughed nervously and leaned across the table closer to Logan. "She saved me from Gia. Who, by the way, I'm still mad that you and Norris introduced me to."

Logan laughed and shrugged. "Well you seemed lonely that night and Gia's always so friendly."

Brandon gave him a small glare and shook his head at him. "Yeah, and now I feel like I have to watch my back every time I go out. So thanks for that!" He glanced quickly at Veronica. "And poor Veronica had to pretend to be my girlfriend to rescue me tonight. Which I will forever be grateful for." Brandon gave her a warm smile and tipped his head at her.

Veronica smiled and shrugged. "It wasn't really that big a deal."

Brandon took a deep breath and looked back over at Logan. "So, how are you doing? Norris told me what happened tonight."

Veronica looked over at Logan, thinking back to what Brandon had said before Gia came over. She wondered if he really was that skeptical about relationships now or if Brandon had just caught him at an especially low point. Sure, she hadn't heard him say "I love you" to Bex on the phone, but that didn't mean that he didn't. And while he seemed extremely annoyed with Bex the first time she saw her at the station, he seemed mostly happy when he was talking to her on the phone.

The amused smile that had been on Logan's face when he sat down quickly vanished. "Yeah, I've definitely had much better shifts than today."

Brandon gave him an understanding look and nodded. "Norris said at least they arrested him and Lacey's going to press charges."

Logan nodded, shooting a quick glance at Veronica before looking back at Brandon. "Yeah, but you know how she can be. I just hope she doesn't change her mind and withdraw the charges later." Brandon nodded again. Logan cocked an eyebrow. "Incoming at 2 o'clock," he said with a small smirk on his face again.

"Hey again," Gia said in a chipper voice as she appeared in front of them again. "Oh… Logan. Ouch… what happened to you?"

"Just work," Logan said with a slightly amused expresson on his face.

"Oh… anyway…" She turned her attention from Logan back to Veronica and Brandon. "My friend ran into someone she knows and so we're going to stay for a little bit longer before we head down to The Prism. I thought I'd come and chat with you again." _Lucky us_. "So besides snagging one of the most eligible men in Neptune, what else are you doing these days?" The speed at which spoke and changed course had not slowed down at all in the years since high school.

"Actually I'm working at the Sheriff's Department… with Logan."

"Wow, so are you like a receptionist or something?"

Logan chuckled and Veronica shot him a quick glare.

"No, my girlfriend's a kick-ass deputy," Brandon said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and giving her a big smile.

Norris sat down at that moment and gave them a bemused look too. "So… what's going on here?" he asked as he looked around the table at them all. He was carrying several beers and put the bottles on the table in front of them all.

"Oh hi…you…" Gia said looking at Norris with a fake smile, obviously not able to remember his name.

"Hi Gia," Norris replied with a smirk. He glanced between Brandon and Veronica, clearly picking up on what was going on.

"You guys should all come down to The Prism with us. It's half-off shots for ladies night," Gia said with a bubbly smile. "We can totally catch up over drinks."

"Ah… I think we were just having a quick drink and then heading home, right honey?" Veronica said as she looked at Brandon for agreement.

"Yep, maybe next time though Gia," Brandon said with a nod.

"Yeah, can't keep these two lovebirds out too late," Logan added with a smirk. "It was tough enough to just get them to leave their little love nest to come have a drink with us. You know how it is with young love."

Gia giggled and nodded. "Well you two do make a very cute couple. I'm sure it must be _exciting_ to date a firefighter," Gia said as she batted her eyes at Brandon.

_Seriously is she trying to hit on my 'boyfriend', while I'm sitting right here? Of course he's not really my boyfriend, but she doesn't know that. _"Oh, you know it," Veronica said as she leaned closer to him. "Nothing hotter than a firefighter, right baby?" Brandon laughed a bit nervously and nodded in reply.

"Well if you're sure you don't want to come with us?" Gia asked again looking at all four of them this time. They all shook their heads at her.

She gave them a disappointed pout, "Alright then. I'll stop in and see you at the station sometime then Veronica," she said before she said goodbye again and turned toward the front of the bar. Veronica really hoped she was just saying it, and wouldn't actually come and find her there. _Now I know how poor Brandon feels having to watch out for her all the time._

Norris started laughing as soon as she walked off. Brandon shook his head at him as he took his arm off Veronica's shoulder. "This is all your fault too!" he said as he pointed a finger in Norris's direction.

"Here, have a beer," Norris said with a smirk as he held out a bottle toward Brandon. Brandon shook his head and scooted it over in front of Veronica.

"I've got to get up early, so I'll pass on the beer tonight."

"Right, I forgot," Norris said as he pushed one towards Logan.

"Let's go grab a shot," Logan said with a nod at Norris as he picked up the beer bottle. "We'll be right back." His smile became a bit devious again. "You two lovebirds don't get too frisky without us here."

Veronica rolled her eyes at him as Brandon chuckled nervously. Norris and Logan headed toward the bar leaving Veronica alone with Brandon again. "So you came to help Logan even though you have to work early tomorrow?" she asked before taking a sip of the beer he'd pushed over to her.

"Yeah, I've got to catch an early shuttle out to Catalina."

She gave him a puzzled look.

"Oh, I volunteer out there with the Search and Rescue team. So I spend the day there when I'm on call so I'm already there if something comes up."

"Wow, what inspired you to do that?"

He gave her a sheepish smile. "I'm one of the divers on the team. I actually love to scuba dive, and don't get much of a chance to do it as a firefighter, so stumbled across that as a way to do something I enjoy while helping others. Although you know… sometimes the dives aren't all that pleasant."

She gave him a knowing look. "So what do you do all day if there aren't any calls?"

Brandon shrugged. "I sometimes go on calls with some of the other emergency service groups. They have a lot of volunteer positions there so they are always happy for extra certified help. If nothing's going on though, I just catch up on reading or whatever." He looked at her thoughtfully. "You should come out some time with me. See if you'd want to volunteer to help too. Do you scuba dive at all?"

Veronica shook her head.

"Well if you ever want to learn, you should just let me know. I'm actually a certified dive instructor too."

"Wow, you're just full of surprises aren't you?" Veronica asked with a sly smile.

Brandon smiled at her and nodded. "Didn't you ever hear that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover?"

Veronica narrowed her eyes and gave him an inquisitive look. "Is that a thing people say? Hmmm… don't think I've ever heard that before."

He laughed at her and shook his head as Logan and Norris walked back over. She thought she noticed a flash of something cross Logan's face as they walked up, but it wasn't there long enough for her to figure out what he was thinking before a neutral look appeared again. "So what happened to Doug?" Veronica asked since she'd expected him to be there too.

"He was taking a report from a Hearst Co-ed who came in to report that her purse was stolen and wasn't sure how long it was going to take," Logan answered with a bit of a smile, receiving a knowing nod from Norris. "Actually I think I'm going to head home. My ribs are killing me, and I just want to go home and crash." Veronica couldn't help but give him a critical look. "Don't worry Mars, the bar was too crowded, so we didn't actually have any shots."

She sighed and gave him an apologetic look. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine," he said with a tender smile. "I appreciate the concern though. You all have a good night." He gave them all a quick wave and turned and headed back to the front of the bar.

Almost immediately after Logan had left them another familiar face appeared out of the crowd. "Veronica?" Mac said with a confused look on her face. "I thought you had to work tonight? Hey Norris… Brandon." Veronica noticed her smile was a bit bashful when she said Norris's name.

"Yeah, I was. We just stopped in to have a quick drink when we got done. Who are you here with?"

"Oh, a couple of the women from work talked me into coming out with them tonight. It's been…" she gave them a cringed expression.

"Want to join us?" Norris asked with a hopeful smile.

"That would be fabulous. I'm actually their designated driver, so can't leave without them, but would love to hang out with you until they're ready to go. The two guys buying then drinks at the bar were sort of..." She cringed again.

Veronica looked over at Brandon, and caught him glancing down at his watch. She couldn't help but feel bad for him. He'd come down here to help out Logan, but now he was sort of stuck there until Norris was ready to go, and with Mac here now, it wasn't likely that would be anytime soon. Of course if he said anything to Norris, then he'd probably feel bad dragging him away from Mac. "Actually, I sort of need to get home to take care of Backup since my Dad's in LA tonight. You'll be okay here without me right?" Mac and Norris both looked at her and nodded. "I know you have to get up early, right Brandon? I could give you a ride home if you're ready to go too."

Brandon gave her a grateful look and nodded. "Is that cool with you two?" he asked Mac and Norris. The two of them looked at each other and then nodded back at Brandon and Veronica.

"Have fun you two," Veronica said as she stood up from the table. They said a quick goodbye and then she headed out to the parking lot with Brandon walking beside her.

"Thank you for rescuing me twice tonight," he said with a warm smile as they were walking through the parking lot to her car. "You'll have to be sure to let me know how I can pay you back."

"Hmm…" she replied playfully. "I'm sure I can come up with something good."

"Anything… you name it… Ride in a fire truck? Slide down the fire pole at the station?" he suggested as he gave her a playful wink.

"Play with a Dalmatian?" she asked with an enthusiastic smile.

Brandon laughed. "Unfortunately we don't have one at the station, but maybe I can find one somewhere in Neptune for you to play with."

"Well let me know when you find one," Veronica replied with a laugh as they climbed into her car.

Veronica was a little surprised at the direction they were headed based on his instructions, west toward the ocean and somewhat in the direction of the nicer part of Neptune. When they finally arrived, she was quite surprised that it was a very nice beachfront condo in what was probably the '08 zip code, just bordering where '09 neighborhoods started. "Wow," she said as she pulled into the private driveway. "You must make quite a bit more at the fire station than we do in law enforcement." She knew the rent on a place like this would be pretty outrageous even with two roommates sharing it.

Brandon laughed and shook his head. "Actually, it belongs to Logan. He bought it before he bought his house and rents it out to us at a very reasonable price." Veronica was surprised by that and it probably showed in her expression. "I know he comes across as an ass half the time, but deep down he's actually a good guy." He stopped for a second and took a breath. "A slightly broken good guy, but good none the less."

"I actually do know that he's a good guy deep down." She paused a moment debating how much she should even ask, but Brandon seemed to be pretty open about things earlier, so she thought she'd keep going. "Any idea why he seems so intent on keeping up his jackass exterior most of the time?"

Brandon shrugged. "Like I said earlier, I think part of it is to just keep people at arms length. I don't know everything he's been through, but I think some part of him just doesn't believe he deserves to be treated like a good guy. But I have no idea what he did that was so bad that he thinks that. I mean, sure he doesn't seem able to make a long term commitment to any of the women he dates, but I know he's upfront about that with them. I've been around him enough to know that at least. Of course when the women think they can change him, that's when things seem to go south. So I don't really know. Maybe it was just a combination of everything that happened when he was younger. But I think everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves."

"Yeah," Veronica answered, not really quite sure what else to say. Even with all the stuff he'd done when they were younger, she thought he'd gotten past that way before she left, so she was having a hard time understanding his behavior now.

"I'd love to invite you in, give you a quick tour if you'd like, but understand if you need to head home." He gave her a hopeful smile, but she could tell he thought the odds of her actually coming in were probably a million to one.

"I thought you needed your sleep for tomorrow?"

He gave her a broad smile, "I'd gladly give up sleep to spend more time with you." He gave her a small wink. "Plus it's not a huge condo, the grand tour only takes 5 minutes tops." She narrowed her eyes with a skeptical expression. "Okay, maybe 6 minutes if we check out the deck too." He gave her a mischievous smile. "Norris made brownies last night and there's still half a pan and we have vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce." He looked at her with one of his eyebrows raised in an almost daring expression. He must have been able to tell that the mention of dessert was potentially the in he needed. "The least I can do for you saving me from Gia is to give you dessert."

"What about the Dalmatian?" Veronica asked with a teasing smile. "I thought that was my reward for rescuing you tonight?"

"I'll still try to find you a Dalmatian to play with, so dessert can just be a bonus reward. Come on, ten minutes tops if you eat fast. How much trouble can happen in ten minutes?"

Veronica laughed and shook her head. "Alright, I could use something sweet after the evening I had."

He gave her an understanding smile before opening the car door and climbing out. She followed him up the steps and into the condo. Brandon led the way into the kitchen, which was right off the entryway after saying he'd dish up the dessert first and then give her the quick tour. The kitchen opened up to a sunken living room with a massive wall of windows that faced out toward the ocean. A part of her felt strange knowing that Logan had actually lived here for a while. Thinking about how much of their lives they'd missed out on suddenly filled her with overwhelming sadness.

"One or two scoops?" Brandon asked, pulling her back to the here and now.

"One's fine," Veronica replied with a small smile.

"You okay?" he asked with a slightly worried expression.

"Yeah, it's just been a really long day."

He nodded in understanding and handed her the bowl with the brownie he'd warmed up in the microwave, covered with ice cream and chocolate sauce. "Want to eat out on the deck? I always feel better after a long day listening to the waves crash along the rocks."

Veronica nodded. She hadn't really thought much before about how hard Brandon's job probably was sometimes. Certainly many of the calls they had to respond to ended in tragedy.

He gestured toward the door that lead out to the deck, grabbing a blanket that was by the door on the way out. "Sometimes it can be a little chilly with the wind out here." The deck was fairly large and they had a dining set and several lounge chairs. Veronica took a seat in one and he sat in the one next to hers. "You warm enough, or did you want the blanket?"

It was a little windy as he'd predicted, so she decided she'd take the blanket. They sat in silence listening to the waves while they ate their dessert. While the ocean was soothing to listen to, she was worried she would start thinking too much about what had happened earlier with Logan, so decided talking might be better. "Have you two lived here very long?" she asked before taking another bite of the brownie.

Brandon shrugged. "I guess it's been about two years."

"I'm guessing the view during the day is amazing." She could almost picture it from all the time she'd spent along the ocean when she lived there before.

"Yeah, it's a pretty fabulous location. Certainly beats the place we were living before." He glanced over and looked into her bowl. "If you're done do you want the tour now, or to just hang out here a while longer. Sometimes when I'm really tired after a long stressful shift, I end up just falling asleep out here on the lounge chair. Thus the blanket by the door. Or if you're still hungry, I could dish you up another bowl."

"No, I'm definitely full now." Did she actually want to sit and just enjoy being there a while longer or go? She'd actually made up the lie about needing to go take care of Backup as an excuse to leave since Weevil had taken him again for the day knowing that her dad was going to be out of town and she'd be working late. "I feel bad keeping you up even later. I should probably take the tour and let you get back to sleep."

He gave her a tender smile. "I don't mind. I know how hard it is to go home to an empty house after a tough day of work. So if you want to hang out a while longer that's totally fine with me."

She gave him a grateful smile in return. "I really should get going, but I appreciate the offer. And the brownie was delicious."

"I'll be sure to let Norris know."

They stood up and headed back inside. She'd already seen the kitchen and living room of course and Brandon pointed to stairs that were right off the living room. "Our bedrooms are upstairs, but I won't make you walk all the way up just to see them. I don't want to sound like one of those guys who uses some lame excuse to get you into his room." Veronica laughed softly and nodded. "Although maybe you should come up and see it as material for the next time we run into Gia," he added with a wink.

Veronica cocked an eyebrow at him. "Has Gia actually seen the inside of your bedroom to know if I was making something up?"

"Oh god no!" he quickly replied looking slightly horrified. "Thankfully she doesn't know where I live… at least I hope she doesn't."

Veronica couldn't help but laugh at him. She was glad they seemed to have finally gotten past the awkwardness that had started the night they had pizza at Cho's. She still wasn't really sure what she wanted to do about him or Sebastian, but it was nice to feel comfortable around him again. She followed him into the kitchen with her empty bowl. He gave her a teasing look. "I'll have to remember to stock up on sweets to lure you here again." He took the empty bowl from her. "Thanks again for giving me a ride home. I really didn't want to make Norris feel like he needed to leave since Mac was there."

Veronica nodded in understanding as they walked back toward the front door.

"Drive safely," Brandon said as he opened the door for her with a warm smile. Veronica gave him a kind look in return as she nodded and walked out the door.

"Sweet dreams," she said with a small wave before turning and walking to her car.


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N – The good news is this chapter is a really long one compared to others in this story. Bad news… I'm sure this chapter may have mixed reviews, but there's still a lot to tell, so stick with me for this roller-coaster ride. Definitely let me know what you think of the chapter when you're done. And thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave me comments on the prior chapters. I really appreciate all the feedback and support! **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 16

Not surprisingly Veronica did not sleep particularly well once she made it home from dropping off Brandon. Her mind kept trying to analyze everything that had happened since the call about Lacey had come in. Logan's anger over what had happened was not really surprising, but the reaction from Lacey's mom and Lacey herself was certainly unexpected. While she was quite surprised when it had happened, it made more sense after what Brandon had told her at the bar. She still didn't completely understand why Logan would be so cut-off to letting himself fall in love again though. Even with everything he'd been through growing up, he never seemed to doubt that love could be real. He'd told her that he loved her on numerous occasions and showed it on even more. Sure their breakup had been hard on them both, but he seemed to bounce back pretty quickly with Parker so she had a hard time believing his current state could really be because of her. _Had there been something else that happened after I left that hurt him even more?_ Although the story he told Brandon had to have been about her and their breakup over Madison. She couldn't help but wonder what message he was talking about that Logan left either. She was trying desperately to remember what Brandon might have been talking about when she finally did doze off to sleep.

Even though she was completely exhausted from the events of the evening, she found her self tossing and turning most of the night when she finally did fall asleep, waking up every couple of hours. She finally just gave up trying to sleep around 7am and decided to see if she'd feel better after a nice long shower. On top of everything she'd learned about Logan, there was still the issue of Sebastian and his connection to Goran to deal with.

She finally decided the best thing to do about Sebastian was to call him and address his current involvement with Goran head on. After downing a cup of coffee she grabbed her cell phone and called his number. It was a few minutes before 8, and she hoped it wouldn't be too early, but thought it best to deal with it as soon as possible given their plan to meet later at the yacht club. She sat at the kitchen counter in her bath robe biting on her thumb nail while she listened to the phone ring.

"Good morning," Sebastian answered in a friendly tone. "I really hope this isn't a call to cancel our plans today."

_He's a perceptive one, I'll give him that._ "I guess that depends..."

"Hmmm... alright, on what?"

"Your client beat up his girlfriend again last night and I was one of the deputies on the call."

"Umm... What? ... I'm not sure who you're talking about Veronica," he responded a clearly confused tone.

"Dylan Goran."

"Oh... Of course..." He let out a loud sigh before he continued. "I only represented him for the one case Veronica. I'm sorry that case was against Echolls, but he wasn't exactly innocent either. I'm definitely not representing him now. I told the senior partners I didn't want to work defense of domestic violence cases anymore which is why I'm mostly doing litigation now. I didn't have much of a say in things two years ago, but now I do." He paused a moment before he continued. "I'm sorry about the girlfriend though."

"Okay, I just thought I should be up front about it," Veronica replied still mulling over his response. "And to be honest… I knew Goran before too… and what he did to Logan's sister when I was still in high school… so it's a little more personal for me than just Logan's suspension."

There was silence for what seemed like minutes, though she was sure it was probably only seconds. "I understand, but I also can't go back in time and change it, Veronica."

"I know," she replied with a soft sigh.

"I really hope this isn't going to be a problem for us," he said softly into the phone. He waited a bit for her to respond and when she didn't he started again. "Will you please still come sailing today?"

She took a deep breath. He was right that it was in the past and that it wasn't really fair of her to hold it against him now. She hadn't even been here when he defended Goran then. "Okay, I'll still come along," she said after thinking about it for a bit.

"Thank you," he replied genuinely. "I'll see you in a couple hours then?"

"Yeah, see you then," she said before they said their goodbyes and ended the call.

She poured herself another cup of coffee and headed back to her room to get dressed. She was surprised when her phone chimed indicating a new text message. She pulled it out of her robe pocket and was even more surprised that it was from Logan.

'Are you awake? Still dropping by? Was going to order breakfast from the club and wondered if you wanted something too. They have amazing French toast.'

She'd forgotten his invitation to stop by his yacht with everything that had happened the night before. She of course was hungry and French toast sounded way better than a bowl of cold cereal. She also thought it would be good to see how he was doing after everything that happened the night before. She was actually a little surprised he wasn't just trying to avoid her, knowing how she could be about prying into things.

'Sounds good.' She replied as she walked into the guest room she was using at her dad's house.

'ETA?'

'45 min -ish'

'OK. Don't be too late or I'll eat your bacon.'

'You wouldn't dare!'

'I might. See u soon.'

She laughed and quickly got dressed so she could finish her hair and put on a little makeup. She remembered Todd's warning and grabbed some extra clothes and a bathing suit. She was walking down the dock toward slip 24 about 35 minutes later. The yacht was certainly impressive from the outside. It was very modern and looked quite roomy, although it seemed small enough to still easily maneuver in the marina or harbor. She didn't see Logan above deck and was debating what she should do, when his head popped out the main galley door with a mischievous smile. He glanced at the watch on his wrist. "I knew the threat of losing your bacon would get you here quickly."

She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. He laughed and waved his arm in a 'come aboard' gesture. "The food's below deck and I didn't touch your bacon."

She climbed up the steps that were on the dock and boarded the yacht. She could see the deck of the yacht much better than she had from below on the dock and saw her initial assessment was correct, there was quite a bit of room which was filled with lounge chairs and other built in seating. She followed him into the main inside area which had a small kitchen space and dining table. Right next to that was more of an entertaining area with couches and a big flat-screen TV. The table had two plates that were still covered with silver covers and another platter of fresh fruit. There was also a carafe of orange juice and a pot of coffee.

"I can make you a mimosa if you'd like," Logan offered as he walked toward what she assumed was a fridge.

"Sure, why not?" she replied with a smile.

He pulled out a bottle of champagne and gave her a sheepish grin. "I may have already had one while I was waiting for you, but I swear I just opened the bottle this morning."

She laughed and shook her head. "It's fine. Like I would really care about that."

Logan shrugged and poured her a glass while refilling one that she noticed did have a small amount left in it. For some reason his comment made her wonder how high maintenance Bex might actually be. "Your breakfast is under that one I think," he said as he gestured to one of the plates. She nodded and took a seat in front of it. She pulled off the lid and inhaled the delicious aroma of her breakfast. As promised there was French toast and bacon.

"So what do you think of my little yacht?" Logan asked with a smirk as he waved his hand through the air after taking a seat in front of the other plate. "Of course there's a bedroom and bathroom through the doorway." He pointed to a closed door at the far end of the room.

"Mm hmmm…" she said with a nod and a smile since her mouth was full of French Toast. She was beginning to think he intentionally asked her questions when she had just taken a bite of food on purpose. "It's very nice," she added after she finally swallowed the food.

They ate for several minutes in silence with her enjoying her French toast and bacon, while he had sausage and over-easy eggs with a side of toast. "So, how's the French toast?" Logan asked right after she took another large bite of it.

_Damn him._ She made an Mm sound and nodded as she finished the bite. "It's delicious. Thanks for inviting me to come have breakfast with you, definitely beats the bowl of Lucky Charms I would have had at home."

He smiled and nodded while he took another bite of his sausage.

"So how are you doing after last night?" she asked with a compassionate expression on her face. Logan shrugged but didn't answer. "Did you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, but I'm guessing you do." He replied with a less than thrilled expression on his face. This time she was the one that shrugged but didn't answer.

"It's fine Veronica, I pretty much expected to get the third degree from you, but still invited you to come for breakfast. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment."

She let out a frustrated sigh and gave him a scowl.

"Seriously, what do you want to know?" he asked before taking another drink of his mimosa.

She shrugged again. _Why don't you believe in love? Why do you insist on acting like an ass when I know you're not? What happened to make you so negative about yourself? Yeah, somehow I don't think any of those are going to go over well._ "I don't know… um… how did you meet Lacey?"

Logan gave her a disbelieving smirk, "She was a _stripper_ Veronica. How do you _think_ I met her?"

Veronica shook her head, slightly embarrassed. _Yeah, okay, that was a stupid question Veronica._ "Well you could have met her at the grocery store or the beach."

"Well I didn't," Logan said. "What can I say," he waggled his eyebrows at her and gave her a lecherous grin. "She looked really hot in her school girl uniform." He gave her a salacious wink. "More questions?" he asked with an amused expression on his face. "Did you want to know what her signature routine was?" She gave him an angry glare as she let out a very loud frustrated sigh. He sighed and gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Veronica. Can we just start over?" She gave him a confused look before he continued. "Good morning… welcome aboard… can I pour you a mimosa?" He said in a dramatically up-beat voice and then his expression became slightly more somber again. "I guess I'm not exactly sure how best to do this… being friends with you… I feel like I keep fucking it up, but I don't mean to, but I still seem to keep doing it anyway. It's not that I actually want to keep coming across as a jackass, yet I just keep doing it." He leaned forward and put his head in his hands and rubbed his forehead while he closed his eyes.

She felt bad seeing him react that way. He'd had a pretty shitty couple of days and this approach definitely wasn't working all that well, but it wasn't really all his fault. She's the one who asked the stupidly obvious question and then got mad at his answer. Of course he was going to poke fun at it. She nudged his foot with hers under the table getting him to look back up at her. "I think we both need to work a little on figuring it out… it's okay Logan." He gave her a half smile and nodded, looking back down at his plate and poking his fork at what remained of his sausage. "You said last night at the bar that you were worried she might not see it through to have him convicted. Do you think that's a big risk?" she asked as she watched him poking at his food.

He let out a deep sigh and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I really hope she won't drop the charges, but I'm worried that she might. When it happened two years ago she did stop seeing him for a little while right after, but obviously he somehow convinced her to get involved with him again."

Veronica gave him an understanding look and nodded in return. "So was he the reason you were arguing with Leo the other day?" She had surmised it probably was given the mention of finding Goran the week before at The River Stix when he was talking to Norris after the call came in.

Logan nodded again. "Yeah… I had to take a call at D's and she was serving tables instead of dancing because Goran had given her a black eye. Debra won't let any of the girls dance if they've been roughed up, but she'll let them waitress. As you can imagine, I was a little upset about it."

"What happened when you found him?" she asked a little hesitantly.

Logan shrugged. "Some yelling… some shoving… there may have been a couple punches thrown… nothing too major though… Molly had one of her bouncers toss me out before it got too heated."

Veronica gave him a confused look.

"Molly took over the bar when Liam was sent to prison," Logan explained.

"Oh… I thought you two were… _friends_?"

Logan scoffed. "Um… no," He chuckled a little bitterly and ran his hand through his hair in a way she knew he used to do when he was getting frustrated. "I'm guessing one of your _pals_ mentioned something to you though for you to think that." Veronica shrugged in response. "Well we may have been _friendly_ at some point, but that was years ago and it didn't end well." She couldn't help but wonder if any of his relationships ever ended well. _Amicable breakups and Logan don't really seem to go together, do they? _She decided this line of questioning probably wasn't going to lead anywhere good based on the posture she noticed he was taking.

"So how are your ribs feeling today? You said they were bothering you pretty badly last night at the bar?"

He nodded and looked a little relieved for the change in topic. "Yeah, they were hurting pretty bad by then. They're feeling a little better today." He paused for a minute, and then gave her a sly smile. "So anything else exciting happen at the bar after I left? I was glad to see you and Brandon seemed to be getting along a _lot_ better." He quirked his eyebrow at her just slightly after the comment.

She knew what he was getting at, but she wasn't going to acknowledge it because she didn't really want to discuss the entire fake girlfriend act. "Nope, nothing else really happened. Mac actually found us right after you left and then I also left and gave Brandon a ride home. Nice condo by the way."

She noticed a flash of something in his expression that yet again she couldn't quite identify, but it was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by a smile. She couldn't quite tell if it was confusion or concern, but it was similar to what she'd seen on his face the night before at the bar. "Yeah, I loved living there on the ocean, but it was a little small." He chuckled before he continued. "Well it was larger than the suite at the Grand, but you know what I mean…"

"So your new place is a lot larger?" _Yeah Veronica, lets talk real estate, much safer than personal topics or actual feelings._

"Yeah, it's actually a house, so no connected neighbors. I like the privacy a lot more."

She nodded in understanding. _At least he didn't say the neighbors had complained about his girlfriends screaming all night during sex or something, regardless of what he could have implied._

"So how about you? Are you looking for your own place yet, or planning to just stay with your dad for a while?"

"Just staying with Dad for now at least. He spends so much time at Alicia's though, I could really just claim it, change the locks, and he probably wouldn't even notice."

"Alicia?" Logan asked with a slightly confused look on his face.

"Yeah…" she wasn't sure why she assumed he'd know who her dad was dating, it's not like they two of them had stayed in touch either. "Wallace's mom… Alicia Fennel."

Logan's eyes opened a little wider. "Oh right… didn't they date a little when we were still in high school?" She nodded in reply. "Wow, so now your BFF is almost like your step brother." She smiled and nodded again. "So what is Wallace up to these days?"

Veronica told him about Wallace's job with the engineering firm while they continued to eat their breakfast. She also told him a bit more about Alicia and Darrel since Logan hadn't ever really met them before.

"So um… I take it you're still going sailing today?" Logan asked a little hesitantly when there was a lull in the conversation after they'd talked about her dad and the Fennels for a while.

She nodded again. _Let's see how this personal topic goes_. "Yeah, I talked to Sebastian this morning. He said he wouldn't be representing Goran so I decided to still go sailing with them today."

"Well… I guess that's good for you…" he looked down at his plate again and pushed his remaining eggs around.

"Yeah," she replied a little tentatively.

She finally heard Logan take a deep breath before he looked back up at her and started to speak again with a smile, although it didn't seem very genuine. "Todd has a really nice sail boat. I'm sure you'll enjoy going out on it. Bex is friends with his girlfriend so we've gone out on it with them a couple times."

Veronica nodded slightly. "Speaking of Bex, what time are you expecting her to get here?" _Because I'd certainly prefer to be gone by then. Watching the two of you reunite after she's been gone a few days is not something I have any desire to see today._

"Probably not until eleven or so. She was going to text me when she leaves LA. Although sometimes she forgets."

The next question popped out of her mouth before she even had a chance to think about it. "How'd she feel about you having breakfast with your ex-girlfriend?"

Logan gave her a slightly contrite expression. "She doesn't know you're my ex-girlfriend." When Veronica raised her eyebrows in a questioning look he shrugged before continuing. "Since it was almost five years ago, I just didn't think it was all that relevant now, so I didn't mention that I used to date you… or know you."

She knew if she were in the opposite position she'd certainly consider it relevant and it really bothered her that Logan didn't seem to think it was. Her expression must have reflected that.

"Look Veronica, despite what people might think, I really don't like fighting with Bex. She's only here for another week and I really don't want to spend our remaining time fighting. We're just having breakfast. It's not that big a deal."

"Fine. I get it." She replied bitterly. "So you'll just tell her you had breakfast with me, but leave out who I really am? That we used to know each other? Won't that seem even worse as to why you'd invite the new _female_ deputy to have breakfast with you?" She knew her tone was coming across sounding angry, but she just couldn't help it. He looked down at his plate and avoided her eyes. "Oh of course... all evidence of me even being here will be gone before she arrives so you won't say a word," she continued getting more bitter by the second.

He took a deep breath and then when he spoke his tone came out extremely defensively. "Why does it matter Veronica? We're just having breakfast. I'm just trying to figure out how to be friends with you again. Why do you always have to make everything so fucking hard?"

"I'm making it hard?" She asked incredulously. "Well I'm sorry that my coming back has been so fucking terrible for you." _Why the hell did I think coming here could turn out well? _She slammed down her fork that she was still holding and stood up from the table. "Have fun _yachting_ with your girlfriend," she said coldly as she stormed toward the door. She heard him call out her name in a defeated tone as the door closed behind her. _Maybe us fighting before wasn't actually about Sebastian but just us not being able to be friends at all. Maybe we really just can't work like that... maybe there just isn't any way we can work... _

She was about to the steps to go back down to the dock when she heard the door open and heard him call her name again. "Veronica, please stop."

One part of her just wanted to keep going. Walk away and stay angry at him. But another part knew running away never worked out well in the past so she stopped. She didn't turn to look at him though, afraid of what her expression might reveal.

"I'm sorry Veronica... I'm not... I didn't want to fight with you today. Please don't leave." His voice sounded so defeated and it made her ache inside. She didn't want to fight with him either, yet they seemed to keep doing this to each other. She quickly thought back to what Brandon had said the night before. _You've only been back a week Veronica, repairing four years of hurt feelings could take a long time if you really did hurt him as badly as Brandon implied._

"I didn't want to fight with you either," she said softly staring in the direction of the dock, still not turning to face him. _Honesty Veronica, that's the only way this is ever going to work if it ever will. We kept way too many things from each other before to ever have a chance at anything, even a real friendship._ She took a deep breath and turned toward him. She was sure the expression on her face probably gave away how angry and hurt she actually was. "It makes me feel pretty shitty though Logan when you won't even tell your girlfriend that we knew each other when we were growing up. Like all those years of being friends meant absolutely _nothing_ to you. Like I mean absolutely _nothing_ to you."

He took a deep breath and turned so his gaze was out on the other boats and not looking directly at her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel like that. If she wasn't leaving… if she wasn't so... it was just _easier_ this way."

She took a frustrated breath. "What happened to you Logan?" she asked in a slightly broken tone before she even internalized what she was saying. "You never used to just take the _easy_ way." Obviously her question wasn't just about him not telling Bex about her, although she wasn't sure if he'd realize it or not.

"I learned that the _hard_ way will destroy you and I'm not going to let that happen to me ever again," he said solemnly, though with determination, as his gaze fell on her face for a second before shifting down toward her feet.

She swallowed a lump in her throat and shook her head while she looked up at the sky, trying to stop any tears from falling. "I need to go meet Sebastian. I'm sure spending my time with him will be much _easier_ than being with you. I might as well be all about _easy_ now too," she said bitterly as she turned and headed back down the stairs to the dock. She heard him say her name in a low frustrated tone, but she didn't stop this time.

It took her about three minutes to make it back to her car. She kept her composure all the way along the dock. Once she reached the safety of her car she climbed in and collapsed back against the seat, facing up at the ceiling but closing her eyes tightly to keep any tears from falling._ Why the hell can't we just be friends? Why are all our wounds so raw even after all these years? Maybe I should just go home... call Sebastian and cancel... but I don't want to give Logan the satisfaction of messing up my day with Sebastian either_. She took a deep breath and pulled her phone out of her pocket. It was only 9:30 and probably too early to head to Todd's boat. She jumped slightly as there was a soft tap on her window. _Great did he want to fight more?_ She turned expecting to see Logan standing there, but instead her eyes locked with Sebastian's bright green eyes, with a friendly smile on his face. His expression quickly changed from being excited to see her to slightly concerned. Veronica gave him a small smile and opened her door. Before she could climb out he'd moved so he was right beside her, leaning down slightly to match her height.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked softly as his eyes scanned over her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and tried to give him a convincing smile.

"I'm a pretty good lawyer Veronica and I can tell when a witness is lying to me," he said with a tender smile. "What happened?" He carefully reached out and gently squeezed her free hand that was resting on her leg after she'd opened the door.

She took a deep breath and shook her head slowly. She surprised herself by actually wanting to tell him what had happened. "I stopped by to talk to Logan and we had an argument."

He gave her a compassionate look and rubbed his thumb gently over the back of her hand. "I'm sorry... about me?"

She shook her head again.

"Hey, let's walk down to the boat. See what Todd has to eat okay? He usually has some sort of food and mimosas in the morning."

She gave him a forced smile. _What is it with rich boat owners and mimosas?_ "Thanks, but I've already eaten."

"Well maybe you'll feel better after a drink then." He leaned back, removing his hand from hers and held it out instead to help her out of the car. After she was standing and looking up at him he gave her a tender smile. "If you want to talk about what happened, I'm more than happy to listen, but I'm not going to push you to if you don't want to."

She gave him an understanding smile and nodded softly. "Thanks. I think I'd rather not though." He nodded and closed the door behind her. "Todd mentioned bringing extra clothes, so I have a bag in the backseat," she he closed the front door.

Sebastian nodded and opened the back door and grabbed it for her, tossing it over his shoulder. He held his arm out for her to take and she wrapped hers around it and let out a small sigh. As they walked towards Todd's boat she tried not to look over at Logan's but found herself glancing toward it a few times. It didn't help that it was moored at the next dock over and that a few of the slips were empty. Of course as soon as she would realize she was doing it, she would get even angrier, though she wasn't sure if it was at herself for looking or for what happened with him when she was there. She was certainly thankful when they finally reached Todd's boat. Todd was just coming off of it and gave them a surprised look before checking his watch.

"I didn't expect you two so early," he said as he gave then a perplexed look.

"I thought I'd see if you needed any help getting things ready and bumped into Veronica," Sebastian explained as he helped her aboard the boat. The steps weren't as sturdy as the larger ones by Logan's yacht, so Sebastian moved his arm, putting his hand at the small of her back to make sure she didn't fall as they were climbing aboard. Todd's sailboat was slightly smaller than Logan's yacht, though it was still a very impressive boat. There were places to sit above deck, as well as a cabin area below deck.

"I realized we decimated most of the supplies last time, so I was going to run up to the club to get more. Addie's running late as usual, so I don't think we'll be leaving before 10:30 at least. She was out with Elise last night, so I think she's coming too. I hope that's okay," Todd explained, looking at Veronica as he said the last part.

"Sure, the more the merrier," Veronica replied with a smile. _Less double-date like is probably better. _She actually wasn't really sure how many other people to expect since they hadn't really mentioned that before. The boat was large enough to accommodate quite a few couples anyway. She thought she caught a brief flash of disappointment on Sebastian's face but it was quickly replaced with a smile.

They said a quick goodbye to Todd as he headed up toward the club building and Sebastian escorted her down into the cabin. As promised he poured her a mimosa after setting her bag on one of the chairs. She'd taken a seat on one of the built in couches and after he handed her the drink he sat down next to her.

"Hey, I know what would make you feel better," Sebastian announced a moment after sitting down. "Turn that direction," he said pointing in the opposite direction. Veronica gave him a skeptical look but did as he said._ Who am I to argue if he wants to give me a shoulder massage, which is the most obvious reason for his suggestion. _As expected she felt his large warm hands on her shoulders a moment later, but what wasn't expected was how really good he was at it. She'd had plenty of shoulder rubs before, but this one really topped the list.

"Mm… you're really good at that," she said as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Thanks… I'm actually a licensed masseuse," he said almost reluctantly.

"Come on? You're joking right?" she asked as she continued to enjoy his ministrations which were expanding from her shoulders to her neck and down part of her back.

"Nope. Got certified my freshman year of college. I was very popular in the dorms as you could imagine."

Veronica laughed softly. "Oh… I can see it now… You didn't use that as an excuse to score with any of the hot co-eds did you?"

"I plead the fifth," he said with a chuckle.

"So did you have a massage table all set up in your dorm room, or did you just travel around to all the girls' rooms offering your services?" she asked in a teasing tone.

He laughed again. "Okay, I actually did have a massage table… well I still have it… and yes, usually I had it set up in my room, but I did make house calls too."

She laughed again. "You still have it?"

"Yep… it's sitting in my spare bedroom… not actually set up… I guess I haven't actually used it in quite a while."

"Well I'd say that you don't seem to be out of practice," Veronica said as she could feel herself completely relaxing at his touch.

"I'm pretty good at foot massages too… you know there are lots of pressure points in your feet that help with all sorts of things," he explained as he continued to work on her shoulders and back.

"Mmm… are you offering to give me a foot massage now?" she asked with a coy smile on her face as she turned slightly so she could look at him over her shoulder.

"I'd love too," he said confidently as he stopped massaging her back.

She kicked her sandals off and spun around to face him. She didn't really think about how close he was when she spun around and their noses lightly grazed each other. Her eyes widened at the realization of how he was looking at her and a moment later he leaned in to kiss her. Maybe it was having two mimosas or the completely relaxed state she was in from the back rub, but she completely melted into the kiss. It only lasted about 30 seconds before he pulled back and gave her a shy smile.

"Sorry… I've just wanted to do that since I first met you at the station." He reached up and gently brushed a few strands of hair out of her face.

She gave him a tender smile. "Really? You didn't even ask for my number, yet you wanted to kiss me?" she asked a bit skeptically.

He smiled and nodded, moving his hand so he could gently run his fingers across her cheek. "Yeah, really."

"Hmm… well did it live up to your expectations?" she asked with a flirtatious smile.

He shook his head and tried to look disappointed. "No… it was way better," he said and then gave her a little wink.

She laughed and kept staring into his intense green eyes. He leaned toward her and kissed her again. This time he moved his hand to tangle in her hair and pulled her slightly closer as they kissed. _Maybe the easy way really is the better way to go. _If it wasn't the mimosas then it certainly could have been the emotional morning she'd had, but whatever it was, kissing him felt really good. She was tired of struggling with Logan and this felt so easy. She told herself she was fooling herself if she thought Logan was going to walk away from someone like Bex for her. She obviously wasn't as important to him as she thought if he wouldn't even admit to Bex that they'd known each other before. Sebastian broke the kiss and stared into her eyes while he gently stroked her cheek again.

"Feeling better?" he asked with a tender smile on his face. She nodded and returned his expression with her own smile. "Good," he said as his hand moved to caress her shoulder and then down the side of her arm. He looked as if he was contemplating kissing her again when they heard footsteps on the deck above them. "Todd must be back," he said with a crooked smile. "Would you like that foot massage now?" She nodded and scooted back slightly so she was leaning against the arm of the couch and her feet were up on his lap. Todd climbed down into the cabin with an arm full of bags as Sebastian started massaging her feet.

"You two look like you're enjoying yourselves," Todd said with a mischievous grin. Veronica gave him a puzzled look, then looked over at Sebastian and realized that there was a smudge of her lipstick on the edge of his mouth. She blushed slightly before leaning up and wiping it off.

'Sorry,' Sebastian mouthed silently to her likely seeing the embarrassment on her face.

She shrugged and silently said 'It's okay,' back to him.

"I've got to run back up on the deck for a few things…" Todd said as he turned back toward the steps up to the top of the boat. "But I'll be back in just a minute or two… just warning you…" he teased as he disappeared again.

Veronica rolled her eyes as he left.

"Sorry about that… about him," Sebastian said with a slightly embarrassed expression.

"It's fine," she assured him then took a deep relaxed breath, trying not to actually moan out loud. He was just as good at foot massages as back massages. "So Addie?" she asked after a minute when her brain started working again. "Is that Addison Monroe, one of the other employees at McDade?" She'd been thinking about the name since Todd first said it and finally remembered why it seemed familiar.

Sebastian nodded. "Yep. They met there. They work on different teams, so it's not that big of a deal really. She works more with models for campaigns. Setting up the models with the right accounts. That sort of thing."

A sinking feeling passed through her again. _She must have set Bex up with Logan, or at least suggested it to Todd._ She really didn't want to hold that against her, but at the moment she wasn't exactly a fan. _Although now I have Sebastian... master of massage... why should I even care if Logan is with Bex?_

Sebastian must have noticed her mood changed again. "Was the back massage better, because we can go back to that?" he asked as he gave her a questioning look.

Veronica shook her head to clear her thoughts of Logan and Bex. "Sorry, no… this is great… just thought of something I shouldn't have… you know… work related…" _Not totally a lie since I do work with Logan._

"Okay," he said looking slightly unconvinced. "But I'm happy to massage any part of your body you'd like… you name it and I'll massage it," he said with a sly smile.

"So giving," she replied back playfully.

"Yep, that's me," he said again as he moved his hands up her calves slightly and massaged them as well.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes._ I'm sure there are places all over my body that it would feel amazing to have him touch._ That thought was quickly interrupted by the sound of Todd coming down with more stuff. She opened her eyes again and watched him opening and closing cupboards as well as a small fridge to put everything away. When Todd was finally finished he looked over at the two of them and gave them a big smile.

"Well I think we'll have plenty for our 'three hour tour'." He said the last three words in tune with the famous theme song.

Sebastian groaned and rolled his eyes. "Dude, do you have to say that every time we go out?"

"Hey, at least I didn't name the boat 'The Minnow'," Todd replied with a smirk. "Though you know I really, really, really wanted to."

"Yeah, whatever _Skipper_," Sebastian said sarcastically. "You're going to worry Veronica about making it back in time for dinner now," he scolded.

"Well if we do crash on a deserted island, at least we'll be well fed for a day or two," Todd replied with a devious grin.

"That's so comforting," Veronica finally interrupted and added, right before they heard more feet and voices coming from above deck.

"Oh, Addie and Elise must be here," Todd said as he headed back up to the main level.

"Shall we go mingle?" Sebastian asked as he looked questioningly at Veronica.

"I suppose we should," she said a little reluctantly, but pulled her feet off his lap and slipped them back into her sandals. He reached out his hand for her to help her stand up and then pulled her in closer for another quick kiss. She checked to be sure there wasn't any lipstick left behind this time before he turned them toward the door and led the way back up to the deck.

As they walked up on the deck, Todd was just finishing a passionate kiss with a gorgeous brunette who she assumed was Addison. She didn't actually talk with her the day they were at McDade because she was out of the office at a photo shoot. After they kissed, Todd turned toward Veronica and Sebastian with a grin. "Addison, this is Veronica. And this is Elise," he gestured toward the other woman who was a few inches taller than Veronica, but in all other regards such as physique, hair color and hair style, they were very similar. From a distance, the two of them could have easily passed for each other.

"Nice to meet you both," Veronica said with a friendly smile. They both smiled back and returned the greeting.

The other two women were carrying small bags with them as well and announced they were going to put their stuff below deck when Veronica's cell phone went off. She gave the two men an apologetic look and then realized it was Leo calling. "I'm sorry, I'd better take this. Don't want to make my boss mad when I haven't even been there a week." They both nodded in understanding, and she walked toward the empty end of the boat and answered the phone.

"Hey Veronica, I'm sorry to interrupt you on your day off, but I was really hoping you might be able to help out with a case today. Norris is already on his way in, and I said I'd call you. I'll comp you two the time and get another team to fill in for you one day this week if you can. It's a pretty high profile missing person case." Veronica glanced over at Sebastian who was watching her intently. She felt horrible doing this to him, but she knew he'd probably understand.

"Sure, I'll be there in about forty five minutes. I just need to swing by the house and change into something more professional."

"Perfect. Thanks, Veronica." Leo said before they both said good bye and she ended the call.

She gave Sebastian an apologetic look as she walked back over to him.

"Ah… I know that look… duty calls?" Sebastian asked with a slightly disappointed look. She nodded in reply. "I understand… really I do. I'll run down and grab your bag and walk you back up to your car," he continued on as he gently squeezed her shoulder.

"Thanks," she said as he turned and headed below deck. She turned toward Todd. "I'm really sorry I have to bail on you guys. Thanks for inviting me though."

"Of course, maybe next weekend. We go out quite a bit." Todd replied with an understanding smile.

"Yeah, maybe," she said as Sebastian reappeared with her bag. This time he must have been feeling a bit more comfortable about being affectionate with her and reached down and took her hand with his and lead her back to the steps. They climbed on to the dock and he moved a little closer so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders as they walked up toward her car.

"I really am sorry I couldn't stay," Veronica said apologetically as they walked.

"It's fine. I know how it can be starting a new job. And the Sheriff's department can be a bit crazy at times."

She nodded. "I really did enjoy the massage. You'll have to invite me over when you set your table up again and can give me a full service one," she said coyly as they reached her car.

He smiled bigger and nodded. "I will definitely do that." He leaned in and kissed her again. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

She nodded and smiled a little blissfully. "Sounds good. Have fun sailing today."

He nodded and then opened her door for her. "It definitely won't be as good without you there," he replied as she climbed into the car. He gave her a quick wave before turning and heading back down to the docks. She glanced one more time in the direction of Logan's yacht before pulling out of the parking spot. Spending time with Sebastian had made her feel better, but a small part of her was still reeling from the fight with Logan. _Why are you even letting yourself worry about it? I'm sure once Bex arrives, he won't even give it a second thought, so neither should you._


	17. Chapter 17

_**A/N – Thank you for all the wonderful reviews on the last chapter! That was the most reviews (on FF anyway) that one of the chapters had received. I'd really love to hear how you all feel after this one too!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 17

When Veronica made it to the station, Norris had just come out of one of the interrogation rooms and was headed toward his desk. "Hey, I just need to make a quick call, then I'll get you up to speed on the case," he said with a grim expression. Veronica nodded and took a seat at the chair in front of his desk.

"This is Deputy Clayton, any news on the search yet?" He nodded as he listened to whoever he was talking with. "Alright, please give me a call if you find anything."

He let out a sigh as he hung up the phone. He gestured with his head to Leo's office and Veronica stood up and followed him in. "Leo was already half way to Santa Barbara to have dinner with Jane's grandparents when the call came in." Norris explained as he closed the door behind him. "Otherwise, he would have been here himself." Veronica nodded in understanding. She'd just assumed Leo was in town when he'd called, but he hadn't actually said that. "I'm thinking we're most likely dealing with a drowning versus a missing person actually. Given the situation, if he was alive, I think he would have turned up by now. And technically he hasn't been missing long enough to file a report, but given the circumstances, I guess that's how we initially classified it."

Veronica quirked an eyebrow at him, wondering what the specifics were. He went on to explain that Bethany Donaldson had called the station shortly before Leo's call to her reporting that her husband, Benjamin, was missing. They were out on their yacht the night before and when she woke up he was gone. She claims that it had been a bit rough where they were anchored and he had gotten up in the middle of the night to check on the boat, and when she woke up in the morning she realized he had never returned to bed. Norris said they were anchored somewhere off of Catalina, so the search and rescue teams over there were out looking for Benjamin. They were taking one of their helicopters around the island, as well as a few boats out searching too, but so far they hadn't found him yet.

Norris had been focused on getting the search started, so he hadn't gotten too many other details yet from Mrs. Donaldson. "Is there anything that makes the case suspicious?" Veronica asked wondering if there was more to this that she didn't know.

"Well Mr. Donaldson is one of the wealthier men in Neptune… well at least in the top 10 I'd guess… Being Neptune… well you understand," Norris started to explain.

Veronica nodded. _You can't really throw a stone in Neptune without hitting some Millionaire or Billionaire can you?_ "So you think it could have been a kidnapping? Someone looking for a big ransom?"

Norris shrugged. "Maybe…"

"Could the wife have killed him for money?" Veronica asked next.

Norris shrugged again, but looked less certain on that. "I guess we need to consider that… If he turns up dead of course."

They headed back into the interrogation room to get more details from Bethany. Norris had also told her that in addition to Bethany being in the room, a friend of theirs had brought her into the station and he was still with her. As they walked into the room, Veronica took in the scene. Bethany was clearly very distraught, with a box of tissues next to her and a fairly large pile of used ones next to it. Bethany was very petite, and even though she was sitting, Veronica would estimate that she couldn't be any taller than she was. And not really all that surprisingly she was also blonde. _Another thing you can't throw a stone around Neptune and not hit._ The man sitting next to her looked almost as upset, although clearly trying to keep his composure as much as he could. They were both about the same age as she was, and it was easy to tell that they were both wealthy based on their attire and overall appearance. Norris introduced Veronica, and the man stood up to shake her hand and introduced himself as Dominick Edwards. They spent the next hour or so questioning Bethany and waiting to hear back from the Catalina search and rescue teams.

Bethany said they'd left their private boat dock at their estate on Saturday morning and spent some time on Catalina after sailing over there. They'd anchored somewhere off the coast of Catalina for the night Saturday evening after having dinner on the island, although Bethany wasn't sure of the exact location since Benjamin had been driving and she'd had a bit more wine than she probably should have at dinner. She was terribly embarrassed to admit that Benjamin had practically carried her part of the way back to the boat because she'd gotten carried away while they were dining and didn't realize until they were on their way back to the boat just how drunk she'd gotten. She said he'd helped her into bed at the dock, telling her he was going to take them out to anchor somewhere for the night. She remembered him finally coming to bed, but then a couple hours later he had woken her up and said he was going to go out and check that the anchor was holding because he thought it felt like they were drifting and he didn't want to end up crashing into another boat or any rocks along the shore. She was still feeling the effects of the alcohol and had quickly fallen back to sleep. When she woke up in the morning, she realized he was missing. She thought she may have heard a loud banging sound before she'd fallen back to sleep, but she thought it was just Benjamin closing one of the outer doors. She said it was rather rough though and she did remember there being a lot of waves crashing against the boat, more so than when they normally were out on over night trips. Once she realized she couldn't find him, she immediately called their friend Dominick, who told her he'd meet her at their boat dock and bring her to the Sheriff's station.

After talking with them to get more specifics, such as the restaurant they were at and where they were docked when they were on Catalina to try to pin down a possible mooring spot, they asked if they could go and look at the yacht to determine if there could have been any signs of forced abduction. Bethany gave them the address to their estate and then went with Dominick to meet them there.

Veronica could easily imagine someone thinking Benjamin would be worth a large ransom as they drove up to the estate. While the Kane's may have been billionaires, the estate the Donaldson's lived on made their house pale in comparison. This house was ocean front, and had even more immaculate grounds than the Echolls' mansion. When they parked and climbed out of the car, Dominick met them at the front of the house and asked if it would be alright if he showed them the yacht without Bethany. She'd unraveled even more on the drive home and he suggested she take a tranquilizer and try to rest. They told him that would be fine, but that they may have more questions for her later.

The yacht wasn't what Veronica was really expecting either after just leaving Logan's a few hours before. This one had to have been at least 3 times the size of his, with a couple guest suites in addition to the very luxurious master suite. They spent some time investigating the yacht, but didn't come up with any signs of a forced abduction. They asked Dominick if he could show them how the anchors would work since that was what Benjamin had gone up to check on. Dominick had gone out with them several times, so he was quite familiar with the boat and answered their questions as they went along. He showed them where the main anchor was, but that they would always drop an extra one to keep the yacht steady, and the second one was a bit trickier to get to at the bow of the ship. It was fairly easy to see that someone could have fallen overboard if they were not being careful on that part of the boat.

They asked how good of a swimmer Benjamin was if he were to have fallen overboard when he was trying to fix the anchor. Dominick told them that Benjamin was a very good swimmer and actually surfed a bit as well. The similarity to Logan was almost eerie and made Veronica a little uneasy thinking about the possibility of something similar ever happening to him.

It wasn't until they returned to the station quite a while later in the afternoon that they received the call that Benjamin's body had been found. The dive team checked an area that the helicopter search team had thought they could see something caught up in some exposed tree roots and rocks and it turned out to be Benjamin's body. From being trapped where it was, the body had sustained a lot of damage from the waves crashing him into the rocks for at least 10 hours or more. Of course the Medical Examiner would still examine him, but the preliminary report from the search and rescue team said that the body was badly damaged. They also needed to get positive verification, so Norris had called the estate and spoke with Dominick. As Veronica finally left to go home for the day, Bethany's heartbreaking wailing when Dominick finally brought her in to identify the body were still burned into her brain. At least that was one part of working in the fraud unit that she rarely had to deal with, the devastation of families who had lost a loved one.

Even though they could rule out a successful kidnapping, there were still several possibilities that they had to explore before ruling on the death, and the state of the body was going to add a great deal of complexity to that task. At first evaluation though, there didn't appear to be any gunshot or knife wounds, but the body was so badly battered and bruised, that if he had been in an altercation before ending up in the water, they may not be able to tell. Given it was Sunday, they were also going to have to wait until Monday to get the full report from the M.E., but those were the possibilities that they were able to rule out visually at least.

By the time Veronica made it home to her dad's house, she'd started to regret giving up a relaxing afternoon of sailing with Sebastian to take the case, although she knew that it was still the right thing to do for her career. It had certainly turned into a much more exhausting day off than she'd expected. Of course it hadn't started off well with the fight with Logan, either. She'd tried to let that go, but she was still hurt that he hadn't even told Bex that they used to be friends. She also really doubted their fight had probably had any impact on his afternoon with her. She was sure that as soon as _super-model Bex_ showed up, that he probably hadn't given another thought about her. She took a quick shower before heading over to Alicia's for dinner. She was looking forward to spending time with her dad and the Fennel's after the day she'd had.

When she arrived at Alicia's, Wallace and Darrell were playing a video game and her dad was out in the backyard cooking steaks on the BBQ. Alicia was in the kitchen working on cutting up some vegetables to add to a salad and asked Veronica if she could slice up a loaf of French bread for her. She was about a quarter through the loaf when her cell phone rang. She glanced at the display and saw it was Logan and let out small huff of air before she hit ignore. Alicia must have heard her and gave her a questioning look. Veronica shrugged and went back to slicing the bread when it rang again. She hit ignore again and continued slicing the bread when it went off a third time.

"I think someone really wants to talk to you," Alicia commented with an amused smile.

Veronica let out a sigh and let it ring a few times before finally saying she should probably take it. She walked in to the laundry area so she'd have more privacy in case they started fighting again.

"What do you want Logan?" She asked in a distinctly angry tone as she answered the call. She obviously hadn't gotten over their fight from that morning and she wasn't really in the mood to talk to him. _Shouldn't he be enjoying his time fucking around with his hot girl friend and not be calling me?_ With her luck though, he was accidentally butt dialing her and she'd hear the two of them having sex on the other end of the line.

"Are you okay?" he asked sounding slightly worried, although she thought he was actually slurring his words a bit.

"Why do you care?" she replied before she gave her self a chance to even think about what she actually should say. The thought of him accidentally calling her while they were having sex had pissed her off even more and it certainly affected her reply. It was bad enough that she had to listen to some of their lascivious phone conversations at the station and with her imagination she could easily jump to even more vivid scenarios.

"What did he do?" he asked, sounding not only concerned, but slightly angry too.

"Wait, what? ... I mean... who?" Veronica was thrown by his question and frustrated that she wasn't even sure what he was talking about. She let out a frustrated sigh. "What are you talking about?"

"What did Sebastian do Veronica?" His tone was most definitely sounding more and more like angry drunk Logan.

_Wait… Sebastian?_ She was completely confused now about what he was even calling about. "I don't…" she was about to say that she had no idea what he was talking about when he interrupted her.

"I'm sure I'm the last person you want to talk to, but I wanted to make sure you're okay… We ran into Todd's boat out around Catalina and well… well at first I thought the blonde with Sebastian was you… but then... obviously later I realized it wasn't… and I wanted to make sure you were okay…"

_Okay, I'm definitely confused now_. "I don't understand…" she finally got out this time. "What are you talking about?"

Logan quickly started talking again, although she could certainly tell that he sounded drunk, or maybe he'd just taken several pain killers and those were making him sound out of it. Whatever it was he was definitely speaking more in fragments than complete sentences. "Look… I know you went to the boat with Sebastian… I was... I was going to try to talk to you… but when I got close enough to the parking lot... saw he was already at your car, so I went back to the yacht… because you know… that wouldn't have been good… and saw you walk to Todd's boat with him. So then later in the afternoon when we saw their boat… and the blonde on his lap… well of course I thought it was you… but then just a little while ago at the docks on Catalina I realized it wasn't…"

_What? On his lap?_ "Elise?" Veronica asked out loud, piecing together what Logan was implying.

"_That_ was Elise?" Logan asked, suddenly sounding a bit more coherent than he had before as if something was dawning on him. He obviously had heard the name before, although he must not have actually met her to know that was her name based on his reaction.

"What do you know about Elise?" Veronica asked in an angry questioning tone.

"Fuck…" she heard him mumble. She could hear him let out a deep breath, though it was muffled, like he'd turned his head into something. It reminded her of when they'd talk on the phone late at night and he was in bed and would start falling asleep and breathing loudly into his pillow.

"Logan, what do you know about her?" she asked again, still in a firm tone, but trying to sound less hostile, hoping it would encourage him to talk to her.

He let out another loud sigh and then she heard what sounded like his head moving around. "I don't know for sure…" he finally said hesitantly. "Only what Jess told me."

_Jess? Who the fuck was Jess?_ "And who's Jess?" she asked, trying to keep the frustration out of her tone because she knew him too well and didn't want him to clam up and just end the call.

"Jessica Meyers… the deputy that Sebastian was dating…"

"Oh, okay." She'd never thought to ask the deputy's name, but it made sense that Logan might know some details through her. "And what did Jess say about Elise?"

Logan let out another loud sigh and she could actually hear him running his hand through his hair and scratching at his scalp with agitation. "Look Veronica… I shouldn't say anything… Fuck…" he paused for a minute and she was about to try to encourage him again when he started before she had a chance to. "I don't want to be the asshole Veronica… but no matter what I say… that's what I'm going to look like." 

She took a deep breath. "I won't think you're an asshole if you tell the truth," she replied trying to sound as encouraging as she could.

He laughed bitterly. "Yeah, somehow I don't really think that's the way this is going to work out for me…"

"Logan," she said in a soothing tone. "Please just tell me what Jess told you." She heard him let out a grunt that sounded like he was in pain and he mumbled fuck again and it sounded like he dropped the phone. She heard what sounded like him fumbling with trying to pick it up, and then she could hear him breath into it again. "Are you okay?"

"Mm hmm…" he replied in a less than convincing tone, like he was clenching his teeth together and couldn't form actual words.

"Where are you?" she asked starting to wonder what was really going on with him.

He let out a slow measured breath before he finally spoke again. "At the dock in Catalina… waiting for Bex to come back from dinner with them."

"She left you to go to dinner with them?" Veronica asked, a little shocked about that, though the little she'd learned about Bex, maybe it wasn't that surprising.

"Yeah… I didn't want to go… I fell… and hurt my ribs again… so I didn't feel like going… not to mention I thought it was with Sebastian and you when it first came up…"

She momentarily wondered how things would have turned out if Leo hadn't called that morning. Having dinner with Logan and Bex didn't sound all that great either, so she didn't blame him. Although clearly her reason was because of jealousy while his was because of his hatred for Sebastian and possibly the risk that Bex might figure out they'd known each other before. "How did you fall?" she asked after a few seconds, changing the topic for a moment but with every intention of circling back to Elise and Sebastian.

"I was trying to untie the boat... and the rope was stuck... I leaned over too far and fell against the edge of the railing… it was stupid... Just hit me in the worst possible spot."

"I'm sorry," she said almost tenderly and then paused for a moment before continuing. "Logan please tell me what Jess told you about Elise." Her tone had a soft edge to it now, though she could easily hear the slight edge of a desperate plea mixed in.

He let out another loud sigh and hesitated a moment before he replied. "Fine… but you're not going to like it…"

"Just tell me Logan," Veronica urged as gently as she could.

He let out another frustrated breath again before he continued. "Jess walked in on them... together… when the two of them were _dating_… and the asshole's response was to claim that they'd never _specifically_ said they were _exclusive_… and _Elise's_ response was that she was welcome to join them if she wanted."

"Oh…" Veronica didn't quite know what to say to that. _Amicable break-up, my ass. That didn't sound like the start of anything amicable. Although what was Sebastian actually going to say… oh she caught me with another woman who asked her if she wanted to join us in a three-way and tossed me to the curb?_

"Veronica?" Logan asked in a soft concerned tone.

"I need to go…" she said and ended the call. She let out a frustrated sigh and closed her eyes. Part of her was totally pissed at Sebastian, but in reality, she didn't know if he'd really done anything wrong now, at least not to her. They weren't really _dating_ and definitely not even close to saying they were in some exclusive monogamous relationship. Of course it still hurt to think of how happy she'd been when she left him that morning, and then to find out he might have been hooking up with Elise all afternoon on the boat. For a moment she actually considered the possibility that it was just an elaborate plot on Logan's part to cause more trouble for her and Sebastian. But then she remembered Sebastian's reaction when Todd mentioned Elise. _It wasn't him being disappointed there would be another person on the boat, but that he might have to try to juggle both of us at the same time and I'd figure out the two of them were more than just casual acquaintances._

She was trying to compose herself before she went back out to the kitchen because she certainly didn't want to discuss this with anyone out there. She heard her phone beep from a text message and looked down to see what it was. It was from Logan and only said 'I'm sorry'. She let out a sad sigh. This fucking rollercoaster with him was going to kill her. She was so angry at him this morning, and now even though a part of him probably enjoyed her finding out more of the truth about Sebastian, she could tell he still felt bad about it. Why couldn't things just be simple? _Oh right… because we're Logan and Veronica and doomed to a lifetime of lives ruined and blood shed._ She just didn't realize when he'd said that all those years ago that it would be their lives that would be in ruins most of the time, although looking back at everything that came before, it shouldn't have been that surprising.

She just stood there leaning against the dryer and stared at her phone. Despite everything that had happened between them that morning, she really did believe that he was sorry he had to tell her that and she could also tell that he was sorry that it may have hurt her. It was also obvious of course that he hadn't really wanted to tell her even though she would have thought he'd enjoy dragging Sebastian through the mud. And even though it seemed he hadn't wanted to tell her, for whatever reason he did decide in the end to tell her the truth. And like so many other times in life, the truth really did hurt. She stared at his text for a moment longer before sending back a simple 'thanks'. She wished more than anything that things could be different for them. That they could go back to some point in time when everything was better and easier. She was sure at some point it had been like that for them, hadn't it? But now they were stuck in this awkward phase of trying to figure out how to be friends and apparently failing miserably at it. Maybe in time they'd be able to figure it out though. How to just be friends and not fight with each other over every little thing that they didn't agree on. Practice makes perfect, and since she was planning on sticking around, she figured they would get a lot more time to practice. Her cell chimed again and she glanced down at it. 'Are you okay?' he texted back. She took a deep breath and typed in her reply. 'I will be." Maybe there was still some hope for them to figure out how to be friends after all.


	18. Chapter 18

_**A/N – Here's the next chapter for you all. Thanks for all the support and comments so far! **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 18

As Veronica started waking up she quickly realized her head felt like someone was using her brain as a pin cushion for big sharp knitting needles. The pain was so bad that at first she didn't notice the feel of an arm across her waist, but then that finally registered. _Fuck_. She tried opening her eyes, which made her head hurt even worse. She forced them open though and realized she definitely wasn't in her dad's guest room. Her heartbeat sped up, which only made the pain in her head even worse. She tried to focus and remember how she got where ever it was that she was at. For some reason even though she didn't know whose arm was across her waist, she didn't feel as panicked as she probably could have, so her self conscious must have known she was okay. She finally decided after a minute that she should probably check though to verify that feeling was warranted. As she turned slowly, not really wanting to immediately deal with the other occupant of the bed if she was caught by surprise, she held her breath hoping the other person would stay sleep. Little pieces of the night before were starting to come back to her, and as she saw the messy hair falling slightly across the forehead of the owner of the arm, more of her memories from the prior night started to return.

She'd faked her way through dinner, acting as normal as she could even though she was upset about what Logan had told her about Sebastian. They hadn't released the name of the drowning victim yet because they were still trying to reach his parents before it was announced publicly so she more or less avoided talking about the case, but of course she hadn't forgotten about it. The longer dinner went on, even though she tried to focus on small talk with the others, her mind kept bouncing back to Sebastian, Logan and the case. She started feeling guilty that she'd focused so much on what Logan didn't want to tell her about Sebastian versus the fact that he'd obviously hurt himself again and being alone on a boat probably wasn't the best place if he'd taken a lot of painkillers or mixed those with alcohol, which she'd definitely known him to do in the past. She was certainly more sensitive to it after dealing with Benjamin's case all afternoon and seeing his body once it was brought into the morgue.

She'd excused herself from the others when they were finally finished eating, saying she was going to check in on something for work and headed out to sit on the front porch alone. She sat there staring at her phone for a few minutes debating what she should do. _Would Logan think it was strange if I called back now just to make sure he was okay?_ She had basically just hung up on him when she found out about Elise, so she should probably apologize about that. He'd said he was worried she'd think he was being an asshole for telling her, and hanging up on him probably wasn't the most reassuring thing she could have done. She finally pressed his number on her phone. It took about four rings and she thought maybe it would just go to voicemail, but then she heard the faint sound of it being answered.

"Echolls," he said in an almost official sounding tone. The abruptness threw her off and she stuttered for a moment before speaking.

"Hey, um… it's Veronica..."

Before she could say anymore she heard Bex's voice come across the line.

"Damn it Logan, that had better not be work. You promised me no interruptions for two days," her tone was definitely annoyed, though maybe she just sounded that way all the time.

"I know I did… just give me a few minutes, okay?" Logan said, and since it sounded like he wasn't talking into the phone, she assumed he was talking to Bex. She couldn't help but notice that he seemed to let Bex believe it was for work, at least he didn't say anything to the contrary.

"Fine, but don't take too long. I'm going to go in and change… into something more comfortable," she heard Bex purr in the background. "Don't make me wait to long."

She felt a knot in her stomach and her chest felt tight. _Fucking stupidest idea ever to call now, Veronica._ She started thinking about his tone when he answered the phone, especially given the fact that Bex was back now. He obviously knew who it was because he'd have seen her name on the display. "_Echolls?"_…_ ugh, really?... what a_ _jackass_.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, though his tone was far from being as concerned as he'd sounded earlier when they spoke. It was about the same tone that he'd answered the phone using. He also sounded more coherent, so whatever was making him sound out of it earlier must have been wearing off.

"Would you have even called me if Bex hadn't gone to dinner with them?" she found herself asking in a slightly annoyed tone before she even gave it a second thought.

"If she hadn't gone with them, I wouldn't have known it wasn't you on the boat," he replied quickly and almost a bit flippantly. She also thought she heard the sound of a door being closed.

"That's not really an answer to my question Logan," she replied back tersely. She assumed the answer would have been 'no' which pissed her off all over again.

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Do we really need to have this same discussion _again_… _now_? over the phone?" She could tell he was getting more frustrated by the second, but she wasn't actually feeling any better at the moment either.

"This isn't exactly the _same_ discussion," she replied back curtly.

She heard him take a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. "I'm sorry, but I'm not doing this with you… not now and not over the fu… phone…" she could tell he was trying to keep some control, although she noticed he was about to start swearing out of frustration. "Is this what you called for?" he asked as if he might actually believe that she'd called just to pick a fight with him.

_Why had I called?_ _Right_… b_ecause I was worried about him and thought it was what a 'friend' would do?_ _Clearly we have a hell of a long way to go to make this 'friend' thing work. Maybe we just need to keep all interaction limited to when we're at work and less likely to get into these sorts of situations_. "It was nothing… I'd better let you get back to your girlfriend," she replied, completely unable to keep the contempt out of her voice.

"Veronica…" he replied, clearly very exasperated with her.

"Good night," she said quickly and ended the call before she gave him a chance to say anything else.

She let out a frustrated sigh and closed her eyes tightly. Her cell phone chimed a few seconds later and she figured it was probably him either sending her an angry text, or trying to get her to not be mad at him. She glanced down and saw she was wrong on both guesses. It was actually Norris. He'd mentioned before leaving the station that after the day they'd had, especially Brandon, that they'd probably head to a bar close to their condo after dinner to relax with a few drinks. They'd found out that Brandon had been the diver who had to pull Benjamin out of the tree roots when the report from Search and Rescue had come in. Norris had mentioned that Brandon always took those sort of recoveries pretty hard, and she couldn't really blame him.

'We're going to head down to The Wild Hare in a little while. Mac's coming over and walking down with us too. Did you want to join us? We'll wait for you here if you want to come along too.' She read in the text from him.

Suddenly the idea of a few drinks with the three of them sounded absolutely wonderful. She texted back that she would be there in a little while and then headed in to let the others know that she needed to go. She didn't want them to feel like she was ditching them though, so lied and said she needed to go talk with Norris about their case. _Not a total lie, I'm sure the case will likely come up._ Her dad gave her a kiss on the forehead and let her know that he was planning to just stay the night at Alicia's because they were planning to watch a movie after Darryl went to sleep. _Right dad... watch a movie… I so don't want to know more._

She drove over to their condo and rang the doorbell. Mac was actually the one to come and answer the door with a big grin on her face. Her smile fell when she saw Veronica's expression though and she quietly stepped out the door toward Veronica and pulled it shut behind her.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she studied Veronica's face carefully.

Veronica shrugged and tried to paint on a happy face, not realizing she was telegraphing her frustration so loudly. "Nothing… just a little disagreement with Logan… but it's nothing really."

Mac raised her eyebrow and looked at her skeptically. She glanced back over her shoulder at the door and then looked back at Veronica. "Maybe you should…" she bit nervously on her lip and looked scared to continue her thought.

"What, just spit it out?" Veronica said a little impatiently. She was already pissed again at Logan and didn't really want to get mad at Mac too, but was afraid she just couldn't help it at that point.

Mac let out a loud sigh. "It's just… Brandon had a pretty shitty day… you know, recovering that body… and we were trying to cheer him up… have some fun... and if you're… if you're not really in a great mood…"

_Maybe I should leave? Seriously?_ No, she wasn't going to let her issues with Logan start impacting all other aspects of her life. "No…" Veronica replied a bit adamantly. "I'm fine… I certainly could use a bit of fun too… I'll be fine…" She pasted on the cheeriest grin she could fake, which was pretty convincing since she'd had lots of practice over the years at faking it. "See… big smile… absolutely gleeful."

Mac smiled hesitantly and nodded. "Okay… why don't you come in and have a drink before we head down to the bar… maybe that will help you feel a little better."

"Me? I feel fabulous," Veronica said cheerily, as she swung her arm over Mac's shoulder and reached to open the door.

"Wonderful," Mac replied, though Veronica could still tell there was a bit of hesitance in her voice.

"Veronica," Brandon said with a bright smile on his face. She wondered how many drinks he may have had already, but at least he didn't seem to slur her name. "Can I interest you in a pre-drinking drink?" he asked with a smirk.

Veronica laughed at him and nodded. She glanced at the counter where there were a number of different bottles lined up and several shot glasses. "What's your poison?" he asked as he waved his hands in front of the bottles.

"Surprise me," she said with a devious grin. Norris cocked his eyebrow at her and then gave Mac a slightly worried look, but Brandon just smiled and nodded as he reached for a couple of bottles and an empty shot glass. He also grabbed one that he must have been drinking from and poured the same amount into both glasses.

"Veronica… wouldn't you rather just have a beer or something a little mellower than doing shots?" Mac asked in a slightly warning tone.

"It's one shot Mac," Veronica said with a scoff. "How bad can ONE shot be?"

Mac gave her a grimaced expression, but didn't say anymore.

Brandon handed her the filled shot glass and held his up to clink slightly against hers. She quickly gulped it down, feeling the intense burn as it went down her throat. Surprisingly the taste wasn't as bad as she was expecting, but it was certainly strong. "What was that?" she asked with a bit of a cough.

Brandon smiled. "Liquid Cocaine… Goldschlager and Jagermeister."

"Wow!" Veronica said loudly. "Well at least it tasted good!" She could still feel the burn in her throat as well as her stomach.

Brandon's smile grew even larger. "You have to have a Fireman when we get to the Hare." Brandon said excitedly. Veronica looked at him in confusion causing him to laugh. "It's a drink!"

Veronica laughed in return and nodded. "Okay… I'll try one of those."

"Shall we go?" Mac asked looking a bit anxious to get them out of the condo and away from the shots, since that obviously wasn't what she had in mind when she suggested Veronica have a drink.

"We shall," Veronica replied with a smirk. At least she'd had a big dinner, so it wasn't like she was drinking on an empty stomach, although the Goldschlager and Jagermeister were definitely strong. She was starting to feel pleasantly buzzed at least, but not to the point of feeling tipsy at all when she walked yet. The Wild Hare was just a little over a block away from their condo and about a block in from the beach. Given it was a Sunday evening, it wasn't super crowded, though it certainly wasn't empty either. There were quite a few residential lofts in the area and so it seemed to be a fairly popular bar, mostly with young adults, Veronica guessed from the look of the first few groups they saw. 

Mac and Veronica said they'd go and get a table, while the guys went to get a round of drinks from the bar. Veronica gave Mac a playful smile as they sat down. On the walk there, Mac had shivered a bit from the evening breeze and Norris had wrapped his arm around her to '_keep her warm_'. "So… you and Norris seem to be hitting it off well these days," Veronica said with a teasing smile.

Mac blushed slightly and nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad he finally got over whatever was holding him back before. He seemed to be crushing on me for quite a while, but never really did anything about it before."

"He was probably just intimidated by your awesomeness," Veronica replied with a broad grin and a giggle.

Mac cocked an eyebrow at her. "And exactly how hard did that drink really hit you?"

Veronica smiled and shrugged. Mac glanced over her shoulder and looked at the guys who were still standing at the bar while the bartender worked on their drinks. "Did you want to talk about the fight with Logan?" she asked as she leaned a bit closer.

Veronica shook her head. "Nope, the order was for fun, and that wouldn't be fun at all, so no way I want to talk about it."

Mac gave her a worried look, but nodded in agreement. The guys appeared a moment later, each carrying two drinks. "A fireman from a fireman," Brandon said with a goofy grin as he handed the glass to Veronica and she noticed his drink was identical to hers.

She thanked him and then that old fearful feeling spread through her, which she knew was probably ridiculous from what she knew about Brandon, but given her past she'd still remained a bit gun shy at times. "Switch me drinks?" she asked with a tentative look in her face. He didn't hesitate at all, but instead gave her a warm smile and nodded. After switching glasses he held his up to her and they clinked glasses again before she took a sip. "Mmm… that's good too. I guess firemen really do taste delicious." She commented with a smirk.

Brandon was definitely caught off guard by the remark, and sputtered a bit since he'd just taken a drink of his own. Once he regained his composure he laughed at her and nodded in reply. "I may have heard that a time or too," he said with a playful grin and a wink.

Mac and Norris shook their heads a bit at the two of them. "Since the three of us had a pretty crappy day, which technically we shouldn't discuss, why don't you tell us about your day," Norris said as he turned and looked affectionately at Mac.

Mac looked around the table at all three of them with a slightly sympathetic look on her face before she responded, telling them how she'd spent the day with her family, watching Ryan at a big soccer tournament. After the game, she'd headed home with the Mackenzie's for a big celebratory family dinner. Mac continued the story of her day as her friends finished off their first round of drinks and a waitress brought them over a second. They'd been listening to her recaps of the exciting parts of the game and not paying any attention to the other patrons in the bar, so Veronica was surprised when she heard the unmistakable voice of the person who'd also interrupted them the night before.

"Like oh my god," Gia said with a huge smile on her face. "I can't believe I ran into you again!"

"She really is stalking you isn't she," Veronica whispered into Brandon's ear with wide eyes. He laughed harder than he probably should have, and then nodded in reply. He wrapped his arm around her giving her a quick questioning glance to be sure she was okay with it. She smiled at him and reached up with her hand that had been closest to him to intertwine her fingers with his, setting a very cozy scene for Gia. Brandon leaned a bit closer to her and actually kissed her temple as Veronica gave Gia a big smile.

Gia watched them for a moment before her eyes landed on Mac. "And I know you too…" She was obviously struggling to remember her name as she stared cluelessly at Mac. Veronica had turned to watch Mac's reaction and missed another person walking up next to Gia until the other person helped Gia with the name.

"Cindy Mackenzie," the other female said with contempt. "And Veronica Mars." Veronica felt a wave of disgust pass through her as she turned back toward Gia and saw Madison Sinclair staring back at her.

"I told you Maddie," Gia said turning to the blonde excitedly. "Veronica's back in town _and_ dating Brandon."

Madison gave Veronica a skeptical glare. "I can't actually believe one of Logan's friends would date _you_… not after what you did to him."

"What _I_ did to _him_?" Veronica asked incredulously in a louder than necessary voice. Her current level of alcohol consumption was probably not a good combination for running into Madison Sinclair.

Madison let out a contrite laugh. "God, you act like you don't even know what happened," she said as she shook her head at Veronica.

Veronica looked quickly at the others, who were all staring back at her with the same confused expression on their faces.

"I didn't do anything to him Madison," she countered back, glaring angrily at Madison now. "You're obviously the one who has no clue what you're talking about."

"Right," she replied, not backing down at all. "You shattered him to a million pieces and made him an even bigger jackass than he was in high school, but I guess that's nothing to you." She quickly turned her head toward Gia. "Come on Gia, let's try a different place. I don't want to be around a piece of trash like her." Then she turned on her heel and started walking back toward the entrance.

Veronica looked at Gia, who seemed to be just as surprised as the rest of them. Gia gave them an apologetic smile and shrugged before turning to follow Madison out of the bar.

Veronica looked pleadingly at Mac for a moment, before glancing at Norris and then back at Mac. She'd dropped her hand from holding Brandon's and pointed in the direction that the other two women had just left. "What the hell was that?" she asked.

Mac and Norris both shrugged and shook their heads at her, but she thought she caught a glimmer of something in Mac's expression. She glanced quickly at Brandon and he shook his head as well, removing his arm from around her shoulders. "I could use another shot," she said to Brandon, who nodded and started to stand up from the table. "Maybe you should go with him," she added looking at Norris, who nodded and stood up from the booth too.

As soon as the two guys left, Veronica slid over to the other side so she was right next to Mac. "You know something…" she said looking intently at Mac.

Mac let out a sigh and shook her head. "I don't know exactly what Madison was talking about."

Veronica eyed her suspiciously. "But you do know something, don't you?"

Mac let out another sigh before she glanced toward the bar and then spoke again. "It might have to do with Dick. I wouldn't be surprised if Madison knew something from him… given his connection to her."

Veronica thought about it for a moment. "I know Dick and Logan aren't friends anymore, but I don't know why."

Mac stared at her for a second and then nodded. "I don't know all the specifics either. I guess I never felt like it was my place to ask."

"Okay, then tell me what you do know."

Mac let out a deep sigh before she started to speak again. "I know that several weeks after school started, I saw Dick on campus and it was obvious that someone had beaten the shit out of him. His face was a mess of bruises and lacerations. I assumed he'd messed with the wrong guy's girl or something, because… well it was Dick." She hesitated for a moment again and then continued. "But I had a Pi Sig in one of my CS classes and out of curiosity asked what happened to him… and…" she paused and grimaced as she looked at Veronica.

Even with her alcohol addled brain, Veronica was still able to put two and two together. "Logan did it?" she asked in disbelief. Mac swallowed hard and nodded. "But why?" Veronica asked, not understanding why, or what on earth she could have had to do with it since she wasn't even around then, if that's what Madison was implying.

"I don't know… the only thing Pete knew was that Logan had been with some asshole named Sean right before it happened and was strung out on something, but those were the only details he'd gotten from Chip." Mac gave her a pained look. "He said Dick had called Chip and Chip found him beaten half to death at the Grand and took him to the hospital."

"Oh my god," Veronica said in shock. "Wait… Sean? Do you think it was Sean Friedrich?"

Mac looked a bit distressed but shrugged as she nodded. "It could have been. I know Sean was still around a bit then. Still dealing drugs, so if Logan was looking for something he could have hooked up with him." She looked at Veronica sympathetically. "But I don't know why Logan attacked Dick, or what else Madison could have been talking about."

Veronica let out a small sigh. "Well I don't know what any of that could have had to do with me though."

Mac shrugged. "You know how people get when they're whacked out on something. And Madison could have just been looking to push your buttons too. You know how she is."

Veronica nodded and scooted back around to the other side of the booth as the guys walked back over to the table.

"Everything okay?" Norris asked with a worried expression on his face as he sat down. Mac looked quickly at Veronica who plastered a large smile on her face.

"Fantastic," she said in reply as she selected one of the two shot glasses Brandon was holding up for her and clinked it against his before shooting it down. She definitely felt that one hit her quickly and a lot harder than the one back at the condo.

Her memory of the rest of the night was basically a muddled blur now though. She remembered that they left the bar shortly after that and she was definitely feeling the effects of that shot and at some point, after stumbling several times, Brandon had ended up tossing her over his shoulders which of course resulted in her laughing hysterically about getting a fireman's carry from a fireman. She remembered Mac offering to drive her home, but she had refused because she really didn't want to go back to an empty house all alone and Norris and Brandon had insisted it was fine for her to crash at the condo with them. Mac had to be at work by nine, unlike the rest of them, so she'd left the three of them at some point. Veronica remembered promising her that she wasn't going to drink any more when she left though.

One thing she couldn't remember yet though was how she'd ended up in her current position. She thought maybe she'd just sneak out and head home and avoid any awkward confrontation, but then she glanced down and realized the shirt she was wearing wasn't hers, but instead was a Neptune Fire Department t-shirt. _Where are my clothes and why am I wearing this?_ She had moved slightly when considering her escape and her movement must have woken up Brandon as his eyes opened slowly.

"Ugh, does your head hurt as bad as mine does?" he asked in a whisper as he removed the arm that was around her waist and rubbed his head with it. When she didn't respond he turned to look more carefully at her. "Are you okay?" he asked with a very concerned tone.

"I um… I don't remember _all_ of last night…" she said with a slightly horrified expression on her face. "Like um… like why I'm in bed with you… did we…" She didn't mean to cringe, but the thought of a drunken night of sex with him after everything else that had happened the prior day mortified her.

He gave her a surprised look and shook his head. "Oh god no," he said in a quick defensive tone, which actually made her feel a bit offended. He must have realized how that may have sounded and shook his head quickly again. "I didn't mean for it to sound like that just came out… but no… we didn't…" She took a deep breath and nodded. His smile became a bit playful before he continued. "Although you are a bit of a… cuddler when you're drunk."

She cringed and covered her face with her hands. "Did we kiss?" she asked, opening one eye slightly to see his reaction to that.

"Well I'd hope that if I had kissed you that it would have been memorable enough for you to actually remember it," he said with a small grin, and then he shook his head. "No… we didn't kiss."

"Why am I in your shirt?" she asked next, feeling a little bit better that she hopefully didn't embarrass herself too badly.

"You spilled club soda on yourself when we got back to the condo, and I let you borrow the shirt and a pair of shorts so I could wash your clothes for you. They're in the dryer if you're wondering." He looked at her with a questioning expression. "How much of last night do you remember?"

She took a deep breath. "I remember walking back from The Wild Hare, but that's about it. Everything else is still a bit of a blur." He looked a bit chagrined at her answer. "What?"

"Do you remember the call from Sebastian?"

She closed her eyes and tried to think back. _Sebastian? Oh right_. He'd called and Brandon had answered her phone for some reason. He said he'd just tell Sebastian that she wasn't able to come to the phone, but then she'd ended up snagging the phone from Brandon and laying into Sebastian about Elise. He of course had tried to deny that he'd been doing anything with Elise on the boat and that Logan didn't know what he actually saw. When she mentioned Jess, he'd been a bit thrown off guard, but still tried to say that wasn't exactly how things had happened. He'd eventually said that maybe they should talk about it when she was in a clearer state of mind. "Yeah… I remember now." She took a deep breath and shifted so she was facing toward him a bit more.

"So cuddling and the call… anything else significant happen after we got back here that I should know about?" she asked, hoping there wasn't actually something else to feel bad about.

He shook his head. "I don't think so… I'd offered to sleep on the couch and you'd said you didn't want to sleep in here alone… so that's how we both ended up here." He gave her an affectionate smile and looked intently at her for a moment before he spoke again. "It's not that I didn't want to kiss you, you know… I just didn't think… given the state you were in…"

"Well I appreciate it," she said almost shyly. "You're a good guy, Brandon."

He chuckled softly. "Yeah… if you knew what I was thinking right now, you probably wouldn't say that."

She gave him a curious look. "Well you have to tell me now. What are you thinking?" She raised an eyebrow at him and tried to give him an authoritative look.

He looked at her a bit more seriously, with his eyes moving down towards her lips for a few seconds, and then slowly back up to her eyes. "That I really wish you weren't still in love with Logan, because it's so amazing waking up with you in my bed."

She took in a sharp breath in surprise. "Did I say something like that last night?" she asked, worried about what she may have told him.

The side of his mouth quirked up slightly and he shook his head. "No… I just figured that out on my own… and that you were the girl he was talking about from before…"

"Oh…" She thought about his comment for a moment. "Is that why you didn't try to kiss me last night?" she asked with a soft expression on her face.

He smiled a bit more and shook his head. "No, that's not why... I'm foolish enough to let myself believe I could still change your mind… I just wouldn't do that with someone who'd clearly had too much to drink."

"Oh…" she replied again. She wasn't really sure what to say to all of that.

He took a deep breath and then reached up and gently stroked her cheek. "I don't know what happened with you and him… but you're an absolutely amazing woman Veronica, and if he's too stupid to realize that, then he doesn't deserve you at all."

She swallowed a lump that had suddenly formed in her throat and gave him a tender smile in return. "Thanks," she said softly. He was still gently stroking her cheek and staring deeply into her eyes as he nodded in reply. She lay there just staring back into his sparkling blue eyes, unable to really say anything else and with no desire to actually move. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that she didn't say anything, or that she didn't move away from his touch, but after several seconds he leaned in closer and pressed his lips to hers. He was still gently stroking her cheek with his thumb and she couldn't help but kiss him back. It was definitely a bit of a tentative kiss at first, like he wasn't exactly sure what her reaction would be, but then when she returned it with a little more fervor, he kissed her more deeply than he had started out doing.

He finally pulled back and bit on his lip for a moment. "I'm sorry… I'm sure I shouldn't have done that, but I really just couldn't help myself."

Suddenly she remembered that they'd sat out on the deck again when they'd returned from the bar. It was after she'd changed clothes and he'd wrapped them up in a blanket while they sat on the deck next to each other and listened to the waves crash against the rocks. She remembered feeling safe and warm with his arm wrapped around her, snuggled into his side under the blanket. She reached out and gently brushed her fingers across his cheek. "It's okay… I just… I just have no idea what I really want and I feel so off kilter coming back home after all those years away. I just don't want to mislead you or unintentionally hurt you at all."

He smiled a bit more, and looked up at her hair slightly as he brushed some loose strands out of her face. "Hey, I'm totally eyes wide open, Veronica. I think I pretty much know where your head and your heart are, but that doesn't mean I don't wish I could change them." He moved his hand, so that his finger lightly traced across her bottom lip. "And I'd always regret it if I didn't at least try."

She gave him a vulnerable smile and let out a deep sigh. He smiled in reply and leaned in to kiss her again. This time there was definitely more passion behind his kiss than the first time, as he moved his hand behind her head and gently massaged the base of her neck with his fingers. As before, he was the one who broke the kiss and pulled away, though still looking at her with a longing expression on his face. He took a deep breath before he spoke again. "We should probably get up so we can get ready to go," he said as he continued to stare affectionately into her eyes.

"Go where?" Veronica asked, suddenly realizing she wasn't even sure what time it was.

"Out to Catalina… Norris wanted to go out to the site where the body was recovered… I guess that was something else we talked about after we got back from the bar… I'm sorry… I guess I forgot when we talked about that last night. Why don't I go get your clothes for you to change back into and if there's anything you'd like for that hangover I'm sure you're experiencing, just let me know."

_Catalina… of course that's where we'd be headed_. Veronica gave him an appreciative smile and nodded. "I'll definitely take a glass of water and whatever pain reliever you might have handy." He gave her a knowing smile, before he climbed out from under the covers and disappeared out the door.


	19. Chapter 19

_**A/N – Here's the next chapter for you all. Thanks for all the support and comments so far. And I'd like to give a big thanks to Bondopoulos for helping me with parts of this chapter and the last one too! I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts after you read the chapter, so take a moment and send them to me. (Good or Bad – I love to read them all!)**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 19

Brandon reappeared back in his bedroom a few minutes after he'd left Veronica there. He brought with him her clothes and the requested water along with some ibuprofen. She was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for him, deciding lying under the covers was starting to make her feel a little uneasy. While she couldn't deny she had enjoyed being kissed by Brandon, part of her still felt guilty about getting into that situation in the first place. It had been years since she'd actually drank any alcoholic beverage other than beer, and she'd forgotten how strong some drinks could be. If she hadn't felt completely safe with Mac, Norris and Brandon, she never would have had anything other than beer. She was certainly paying for that divergence from her normal cautionary behavior now. She also meant it when she told Brandon that she didn't want to hurt him, and lounging around under his sheets certainly sent the wrong message.

"Norris made some coffee and has bagels too, if you're hungry," Brandon said with a tender smile as he laid her clothes down next to her on the bed and handed her the water and medicine.

While her head still throbbed, she thought she maybe could eat something since surprisingly she didn't feel nauseous, at least not yet. He let her use his bathroom to change and when she came out he gave her an almost nervous smile.

"I'm going to take a shower, but I'll see you later," he said as she reached out to hand him the clothes of his that she'd been wearing.

She nodded and felt a bit awkward as well. Sure they'd just kissed less than 15 minutes before, but now that they were out of bed, that closeness was gone, replaced by both of them feeling a bit apprehensive apparently. They both stood there just starting uncertainly at each other for several seconds before she finally spoke up. "Yeah... Thanks for lending me your clothes, and for... well for being a gentleman last night."

He nodded and smiled a bit more before turning to head into his bathroom. She cringed slightly at how that interchange went before turning and heading down the stairs. As she slowly made her way down each step, she was working up the courage to face Norris. She wondered what he was thinking about her little bender the night before and the fact that she ended up sleeping in Brandon's room. As expected, she found Norris in the kitchen when she reached the bottom of the stairs. He was focused on reading something on the counter when she walked in.

He gave her a sly smile as he looked up at her. "How's your head?" he asked as he grabbed an empty coffee cup and set it on the counter across from him for her. _At least his expression doesn't seem too judgmental._

She took a deep breath and walked over closer to the counter and grabbed one of the bagels, looking over the options for spreads. "It hurts," she said briefly. She had picked up a sesame bagel, and grabbed some berry flavored spread to put on it.

"So are you up for going out to Catalina today? I thought we could get some better photos of where the body was found and see if there was any sign off a failed abduction in the area above the spot. I also thought we could check Bethany's story about dinner and see what information the marina might have. I've already suggested it to Leo and he agreed that sounded like a good idea and would have some other deputies cover our shift later." _So I see we're definitely back to business as usual already, skipping over any awkwardness of me just doing a walk of shame out of your roommate's bedroom. Not that it was a total walk of shame, since we didn't… I wonder what he even thinks… or knows happened?_

Veronica gave him a decisive smile and nodded. She pulled the coffee mug he'd filled toward her so she could add some cream and sugar to it before she took a drink. He gave her an odd look as he was watching her. "What?" she asked with a confused expression.

"You just make your coffee exactly the same way Logan does, that's all... just the same little odd order of sugar, then cream, then more sugar."

She let out a frustrated breath and shrugged. She was definitely still mad at Logan for everything that had happened the day before, and Norris mentioning him brought all that freshly back to her mind again. When Brandon had brought him up, she was more concerned about what she may have told Brandon about him, and she hadn't really stopped to think much about everything that she had been angry about. But now that Norris was mentioning him, all those things popped right back into her head again.

"I know he doesn't mean to always end up acting like an ass, it just seems to inadvertently happen," Norris added with a knowing look. _Has he gotten that good at reading me or was what I was thinking really that obvious, or does he know something else?_

She shook her head. "How did you know he was an ass again? Did Mac tell you?"

He shook his head and looked a bit chagrined for a moment before he pulled out his cell phone and tapped the screen before handing it to her. On the screen was a text from Logan to him, with a time stamp that would have been shortly after she had hung up on him. The message read _'I'm such a fucking asshole. Can you check on Veronica?_' The next message was Norris's reply that said _'Yeah, was just about to send her a text anyway_'. Logan sent back a quick _'thx'_ and then Norris replied again with _'stop being an ass'._ The final message from Logan was _'I wish I could'_.

She let out a sigh and handed the phone back to him. "I just don't… we just can't seem to figure out how to be friends again."

Norris gave her a sympathetic look. "I seem to recall a great deal of animosity in high school between the two of you. If you were able to get over that, don't you think you can work out whatever it is that you are having a tough time with now?"

_Somehow I don't think I'm going to get kidnapped by a federal agent and have him come to my rescue again._ She shrugged and took a bite of her bagel. "Maybe it's all our history that's making it difficult now…" she said after washing down the bite of bagel with a little coffee. She let out a defeated sigh before continuing. "I guess I keep expecting things to be a certain way, but we've both changed over the last four years, and maybe that's just not possible."

Norris nodded as he set his coffee cup down. "What were you two fighting about anyway?"

Veronica looked down at the counter. _While part of me would rather not discuss this, maybe Norris would have some helpful advice since they're friends now_. "Well… mostly I was angry that he wouldn't even acknowledge to Bex that he used to know me."

"Oh…" Norris glanced down at his cup again. "Well Bex can be… um… difficult."

Veronica let out a deep sigh. It certainly wasn't the first time someone had given her the impression that Bex was not a very nice person. Before she realized it, she'd blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "Why's he even with her if she's so horrible?"

Norris looked back up at her with a hesitant expression before he spoke again. "Well besides the obvious…" Veronica rolled her eyes at him waiting for him to continue. "I think it's because she's superficial enough that she doesn't exactly have high expectations, so he doesn't feel like he has to worry about disappointing her. But that's just my opinion from what I've seen."

"Oh…" She instantly felt a wave of contrition overtake her. _I suppose I probably made him feel like he disappointed me on numerous occasions, didn't I?_ "I never… I don't mean to get so mad at him, but I just can't seem to stay rational when things get heated between us. And the fact he won't tell Bex about me, just really made me angry."

Norris quirked his eyebrow at her, and then gave her a curious look.

"What?" she asked adamantly.

"It's just… you sound like you might be a little jealous," Norris replied a bit hesitantly.

"I'm not… well…" she let out a loud sigh and closed her eyes for a moment. "I guess maybe I am a little… but it doesn't really matter. He's with Bex and the two of us can barely make it through a single conversation without fighting about something."

"You do know you're important to him though right?" Norris asked. Veronica shrugged and looked at him a bit skeptically. "Trust me. You are. Why do you think he gets so upset about fighting with you too?" Veronica shrugged again. "I'm sure with time the two of you will figure out how to get along better."

She let out another deep sigh. _I guess the part of me that's the most disappointed is the part that wanted to be more than just a friend again, which means, yeah, I'm incredibly jealous._ "Yeah… well I'd better get home."

"Do you want to meet us at the ferry, or do you want us to come and pick you up?" Norris asked her as she walked over to put her coffee mug in the sink.

"I'll just meet you at the ferry." She finished rinsing out her mug and then went over to pick up her purse and car keys that were at the end of the kitchen counter.

"Okay. Do you think you can be there in an hour? If not, we can catch the following one."

Veronica nodded and then thanked him for the coffee and bagels before she headed out the door.

The hangover headache made getting ready quickly a challenge, but she made it to the ferry just in time for them to catch the first one. The earlier awkwardness with Brandon seemed to have dissipated a bit and he gave her a warm smile when she arrived and offered to buy her a cup of coffee at the kiosk near the dock. She was relieved that he seemed more relaxed around her since they would likely be spending most of the day together. Once they made it to the island, they headed straight to the boat that Brandon had arranged for them to take out. He was easily able to locate the spot where they'd recovered the body as they headed out along the shoreline of the island. Veronica was impressed because once she was out on the boat, to her most of the shoreline looked the same.

Veronica volunteered to take pictures with the camera Norris had picked up at the station once they arrived at the spot, while the guys were discussing possible access points from the shoreline to the area. The camera she was using had a very powerful telescopic lens, so even though they were still out a ways from the shore, she could get good shots of the area to investigate later from a computer. The shoreline there was very rocky and Brandon had said that he and another diver had to swim over to retrieve the body since they couldn't get close enough with the rescue boat. The guys had pulled up some satellite photos of the island and were busy comparing the location that the body had been located to access points on land, leaving her free to focus on just take pictures.

She hadn't noticed anything when the boat was moving, but once they were stopped for a while and the rocking motion of the ocean was more noticeable, she was finally hit by a horrible wave of nausea. As each minute went by, she started feeling worse and worse, and she finally set the camera down trying to keep from throwing up over the side of the boat. _Maybe having bagels and coffee was not such a great idea._ Brandon was the first one to notice and walked over and ran his hand up and down her arm.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked with a concerned look on his face.

She bit on her lip and took a deep breath before shaking her head slightly. "Nope… I um… usually don't get seasick, but not feeling so hot right now."

"Norris, are we good here? I think we should get the boat moving again…" he looked back at Veronica and added. "That should help."

Norris nodded in agreement and Brandon started up the boat again and headed them back to Avalon, which was also where Bethany had said they'd gone ashore for dinner. Having the boat moving again helped since the rocking motion subsided compared to when they were stopped. When they made it to the dock, Norris said he was going to go up to the marina office to see what information he could get on the Donaldson's arrival and departure times, and suggested Veronica just sit down for a while until she felt better. Brandon offered to get her a bottle of ginger ale while she waited for him on a bench near the top of the ramp that led down to the mooring area.

She was feeling a little better being on solid ground again, but since the nausea was in part due to her hangover and not entirely from being on the water, it hadn't completely gone away. She leaned over, resting her elbows on her knees, massaging her head and wishing she hadn't let herself get swept up in trying to have a good time the night before. _You'd think you really would have known better Veronica. Nothing good ever comes from drinking hard alcohol._ She was chastising herself even more than she had when she first woke up since it was actually impacting her ability to work on the case now. Although if she'd known beforehand they were going to come out to Catalina early in the morning, she probably wouldn't have had more than a beer or too. Originally they weren't scheduled to start until the 3pm shift, so she would have had plenty of time to recover if they hadn't come over to Catalina. Still, she was growing angrier at herself by the second thinking about how reckless she'd been the night before since she was certainly paying for it now.

Brandon returned a few minutes later and knelt down in front of her with the bottle of ginger ale in his hand. He looked up at her with a sympathetic smile, while he rested his free hand on the edge of her knee and handed her the bottle. She sat up a little straighter, though the motion made her feel a bit queasy again and she quickly froze while she gave him a slightly pained look. He reached up and brushed some hair out of her face while he gently rubbed her leg.

"Hopefully this will help," he said tenderly as he looked up at her. "Seasickness combined with a hangover is definitely the worst combination ever. I picked up some more ibuprofen if you need any too."

"Thanks," she said gratefully as she smiled back at him and tightly squeezed the bottle as if she were hoping it could make her feel better just touching it. Even though she wished she hadn't been in this situation at all, she was a little surprised that she found it somewhat comforting having him taking care of her. He nodded in reply and kept lightly stroking her hair as he smiled fondly up at her. For a moment, she caught that same look he'd had on his face in his bed right before he kissed her, and she wondered if he was thinking about trying to kiss her again.

"Brandon?" a distinctly British female voice called out from just a few feet away from them on the ramp, causing Brandon's expression to change to where it almost looked as if he was a bit panicked for just a second.

Veronica and Brandon both turned then to see Bex and Logan standing just ten feet away. Bex's arm was wrapped around Logan's waist, and Logan had his arm across her shoulders. The couples seemed to be frozen in silence for a moment, taking each other in. Veronica's eye's locked with Logan's, and it was easy for her to guess what her current position with Brandon likely looked like to him. It took Veronica a second to place it, but this time she clearly recognized Logan's expression from a very specific moment in their past. She felt her heartbeat speed up and she could only remain motionless on the bench as she remembered that agonizing moment from all those years ago. The expression on his face now exactly mirrored the look he'd had when he walked off the elevator at the Grand during Parker's birthday party and found her kissing Piz. It was a look of sheer incredulity mixed with sudden comprehension. It was only there for a few seconds before she watched him quickly replace the look with a clearly forced smile. It had been quick, but she'd definitely seen it and recognized it as the same expression that he'd had that night when he'd found her with a different man in an even more intimate position.

"And you're that woman from the station aren't you?" Bex asked next, staring at Veronica and breaking the trance she seemed to have fallen into when her eyes had locked with Logan's. "Vicky?"

"Veronica," both Brandon and Veronica corrected at the same time. Brandon stood up from the kneeling position he was in, taking a half step back from where Veronica was sitting. Veronica quickly glanced up at him and noticed he seemed a bit uneasy all of a sudden, placing both of his hands in his pants pockets as he kept staring back at Bex and Logan.

"She's our newest deputy," Logan explained, finally speaking for the first time and causing Veronica's attention to snap away from Brandon, back to him. Logan was looking at Bex as he spoke though, no longer looking down at her on the bench.

"Ah," Bex replied as she looked more carefully at Veronica and then spoke in a condescending tone. "I suppose that explains her clothes then."

Veronica finally took a second to do a quick once over of Bex. Of course she was wearing a gorgeous floral dress with a plunging neckline, expensive looking jewelry and high heel sandals, while Veronica was wearing a pair of charcoal simple dress slacks with a light blue button down shirt and sensible flats since she was there working on the case. She still didn't like the remark though and was about to open her mouth to justify her choice in attire when she was cut short by the sound of Logan's voice again.

"What are you two doing here?" Logan asked before Veronica could get her response about her clothes out. Although she now noticed that Logan's attention was entirely on Brandon only and he was completely avoiding looking directly at her even though she was practically right next to Brandon.

"We're here for a case," Norris answered from behind Veronica and Brandon. Veronica hadn't expected Norris to be back already and turned for a moment to look at him as he continued to walk closer to them. "Actually, maybe we should talk for a few minutes," he added, with a very solemn look on his face as he looked directly at Logan. Veronica wondered what the serious look was about and couldn't help but turn back to see what Logan's response was going to be.

"Oh no," Bex said turning to give Logan a stern look. "You're not staying and talking to them about some case. You're off work, and if we don't get going we're going to miss our reservation. And you promised you were not working while we were here." She turned back toward Norris and continued talking to him instead of Logan. "You can talk all you want to him tomorrow when he's back on duty, but he's mine today. I'm sure you and Deputy Vicky here have it under control."

"It's Deputy Mars," Logan said, correcting Bex, but still not looking at Veronica. Bex shot him an annoyed glance, obviously not fond of being corrected.

"Fine… Deputy _Mars_…" Bex said as she turned back to face the other three. "It was _great_ bumping into you all, but we really must be on our way." Her tone had gotten noticeably icier after Norris arrived and asked to speak to Logan.

"Sorry man," Logan said looking at only Norris now. "We really are late already. Can it wait until tomorrow?"

Norris's expression remained solemn, but he nodded. "Call me when you're headed back to Neptune and I'll meet you at the Yacht club."

Veronica noticed Brandon had a similar concerned look on his face, and quickly realized there was something they both knew that they hadn't told her. _Rich young millionaires in Neptune… my money's on Logan and Benjamin being some sort of acquaintances_. Norris had mentioned on the ferry ride over that they were still having a hard time tracking down Benjamin's parents and until they did, Leo was holding off on an official news release. Bethany hadn't been in any state to want to deal with the press either, so it had remained pretty quiet so far. It would make sense that Norris would want to tell Logan personally if that was the case and he had the opportunity to do so.

"Okay, I will. Thanks for understanding," Logan said to Norris with a grateful smile. "Good luck," he added before he started walking up the ramp again with Bex. He looked in Veronica's direction for a split second, but as soon as their eyes met, he immediately turned his gaze back up toward the direction they were headed. However in that split second, she saw a sliver of that same raw emotion he'd had about Piz. Not only right after the kiss, but also when he'd confronted her about staying the night at Wallace and Piz's dorm room when they were still together, and the look he'd had when the elevator door opened to Piz waiting for her. '_Good luck_' had also been the last thing he said before the doors closed that day too. Maybe her dad had been right and Logan was jealous of her being with other guys. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _Then why the hell did he push me so hard toward Brandon? That just doesn't make any sense._ If her head wasn't hurting from the hangover, it certainly was aching now trying to figure out what on earth was going on with the two of them. At least the frustration and confusion she was feeling towards him helped out weigh whatever lingering nausea she still had.

She glanced up at Brandon and noticed he had an almost perplexed expression on his face as he looked down at her. She was about to ask him what the look was for when Norris interrupted her.

"The guy in the marina office said he could pull up some of the security video footage from that night if we want to watch it," Norris said as he looked at the two of them.

Veronica nodded. "Yeah... give us a minute and we'll be right there."

Norris nodded and turned back to the marina office, while Brandon turned back to her with a questioning expression on his face. Veronica stood up slowly from the bench and waited a second for Norris to be out of earshot before she spoke.

"What was the look for that you had just a moment ago?"

He looked a bit apprehensive as he stared at her for a moment before answering. "It was just..." he shook his head and let out an exasperated soft laugh. "I've _never_ seen him look at anyone like he just looked at you. Well when he was looking at you... when he first saw us, since after that he looked everywhere but at you."

She wasn't sure what to say, so for a moment she just stared at him, likely with a confounded expression on her face. If Brandon noticed Logan's reaction too, then it wasn't just her imagining it, or projecting what she was wanting to see in his expression.

"You had to have noticed that, right?" he asked next looking at her a bit skeptically since she still hadn't said anything.

She nodded slowly, but still had a confused expression on her face. "Yeah… but…" She shook her head. "You know what? It doesn't really matter. We should go catch up to Norris." She started walking toward the office without even making sure Brandon was following. It wasn't that she wanted to be rude to Brandon, she just didn't want to deal with all of it right now, and not really with him either. She heard his footsteps following a few feet behind her, so felt a little bit better about just walking off. When she got to the office door, she glanced at him and then gave him a small smile as she opened the door and he reached up to hold it open for her to walk inside in front of him. He at least didn't look angry with her, but she didn't think he looked quite as happy as he'd been before they ran into Logan and Bex.

After watching the video of the security footage, and getting a copy to take back to the station. Next they headed toward the restaurant that Bethany said they'd eaten at. They hadn't seen anything on the video that contradicted her story. Benjamin was carrying her down the dock when they returned from dinner as she'd told them. They didn't notice anyone following them, and didn't see anyone board the boat while it was moored at the dock. The people they talked to at the restaurant also confirmed that portion of Bethany's story as well. The manager at the restaurant was also able to provide a copy of their receipt since Benjamin had paid with a credit card. The waitress who had waited on them was working while they were there and agreed that Bethany had drank quite a bit of wine and seemed fairly tipsy when they had left their table. She didn't notice anything that seemed unusual to her though.

After they were finished at the restaurant, they decided to head back to Neptune. There didn't seem to be any easy access points on land to where the body had been found, so it really didn't seem probable that someone had tried to abduct him and failed. At least if they had, it wouldn't have been around that specific location, and if something had happened elsewhere and he fell back into the water, that location could be virtually anywhere on that side of the island.

The boat they'd borrowed was moored at a different location, so they were going to need to return it. The restaurant was a little closer to the ferry than where the boat was currently docked, and since another boat ride still didn't sound great to Veronica, she suggested just meeting them at the ferry. She was worried enough about making it back to Neptune on the ferry and risking more nausea just to go with them as they returned the other boat didn't sound all that appealing. Norris had volunteered to stay with her, but she thought it would be easier for Brandon to return it with additional help, so she insisted that Norris go along with him. They parted ways outside of the restaurant and Veronica started to make her way back to the ferry. There was a light breeze and the crisp early afternoon air was helping her feel much better than she had when she first got off the boat.

She was walking by some shops when she heard the jingle of bells from a door opening and closing and then heard her name being called. She tensed up for a moment, cursing the horrible luck she seemed to be having before turning around to see Logan's apprehensive brown eyes staring down at her.

"Hey… where are Brandon and Norris?" he asked looking nervously around for them and avoiding her gaze again.

"They took the boat we used back," she answered insipidly, not quite prepared to be dealing with him.

Her response brought his attention back to her, though the tremulousness had not left his expression. "Why aren't you with them?" he asked, his tone matching the nervousness in his demeanor.

"I didn't want to go out on the water again," she replied a bit reluctantly before her defensiveness kicked in. "Where's your girlfriend?"

"She's um…" he turned back toward the door he must have come out of. "She's trying on some dresses in that boutique and I saw you walk by the window."

She nodded and wanted to snap back at him about how convenient it must have been that she was in the fitting room so he could sneak out and talk to her, but she held herself back. Norris's comment from the morning about her sounding a bit jealous was ringing through her head, and she didn't want to come across like that anymore. Logan not wanting to tell Bex about her really was his decision and even if she didn't like it, it wasn't her place to interfere. So instead she nodded and clenched her jaw tightly.

"Are you okay?" he asked taking a step closer to her. "You didn't look very good earlier at the dock."

She clenched her jaw even tighter. _Oh, now that Bex isn't around you're going to ask that, rather than when you actually saw me not feeling well?_ She took a deep breath and nodded. His eyes narrowed at her and he cocked his head slightly in a very disbelieving way. The judgmental way he was looking at her completely pushed her over the edge, and that was all she was able to take.

"Speaking of earlier…" she narrowed her eyes at him as well as her tone took on an edge of indignation. "I've seen that look on your face before Logan." His expression changed to one of confusion instead of disbelief at her accusation. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about Logan, even Brandon saw it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied defensively, taking a step away from her. "And wasn't Brandon a bit too busy fawning over you to notice anything anyway?" For a split second she saw that same wounded victim look flash across his face, which made her even angrier.

"I don't understand you Logan," she said in a barely restrained scream. "You practically shoved me at Brandon, and then, when you see us together, you're upset about it?" She knew her expression was probably a combination of sheer frustration and complete incomprehension, but she didn't really care and wasn't in the state to control it either.

"I wasn't upset," he said with an eerily calm demeanor, although she really wasn't buying his nonchalant facade now. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah… you already said that once, but I think you do know _exactly_ what I'm talking about, Logan" She took a step toward him, closing the distance again. "_That_ was the same expression you used to have when you would see me with Piz." She watched as his jaw clenched and she could tell he was trying to keep his charade of a poker face he was wearing in place.

"You know, Brandon _is_ a lot like Piz, so I'm sure you'll be perfectly happy with him as well." He paused for a moment, still apparently trying to keep his composure, although she saw his jaw clench again. "I need to get back to my girlfriend now." And with that he spun around and walked briskly back to the boutique, pulling the door open a bit more forcefully than needed and then disappearing as the bells jingled once more.


	20. Chapter 20

_**A/N – I thought I'd put a little warning that this chapter is not exactly up-beat (some references to past trauma too). I always feel bad when people read these types of chapters without warning and wish they'd known. I know this story has gotten much more angsty than I ever envisioned when I started it, but LoVe never was exactly easy. (At least in Rocky Shores things are happy – it is a bit odd writing both at the same time because they are so completely opposite of each other!) I'd like to give a big thanks again to Bondopoulos for helping me with this chapter! And to all you fabulous readers, thanks for all the comments last chapter. It was the most reviews to date that this story has received on one chapter. I'd love to get just as many this time too, so take a moment and let me know what you thought of this one. **_

_**Also a quick apology that I haven't gotten any updates on DCA or Lightning Rod published lately. I've started a chapter for Lightning Rod and have just been too busy to finish that one yet with these other two as well, but I haven't abandoned those at all I promise! I may just decide to skip a week on this or Rocky Shores so I have time to finish that one, and maybe will start rotating the 4 around until the other two are finished. I'm sure people will be bummed to lose weekly updates on this one and Rocky Shores, but then I'd be able to finish the other two up and get back to weekly here. Just my thoughts currently, so I thought I'd give a little heads up in case that's what I decide to do.**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 20

Veronica considered following Logan back into the boutique, but knew that wouldn't lead to anything good, so instead turned and headed in the direction of the ferry. She couldn't wait to get back to Neptune and off of this cursed island and all the horrid floating vessels around it. She was starting to feel a little hungry again since it was way past lunch time, but didn't want to risk getting sick on the ferry ride. So instead of finding something to eat, she just sat on a bench near the ferry, hoping that Norris and Brandon would be back soon. She occasionally glanced at her phone, thinking maybe Logan would realize what an ass he was and send her an apology text. Although which one of them was really the bigger asshole, she wasn't exactly sure at that point. She'd really wanted to try to just act like a normal friend. At least that had been her goal since she realized he was with someone, but she realized now that her unresolved feelings for him were totally getting in the way of that. If she'd been watching the events unfold from a completely neutral vantage point she knew she would have easily seen just how horrible she was acting as well. She still wasn't sure what she was thinking confronting him like that in the middle of the sidewalk over his reaction to her and Brandon. Of course she knew exactly how he felt seeing Brandon with her because she pretty much felt exactly the same way and it really was written all over his face. She also realized she didn't have any right to judge him over how he handled his relationship with Bex, just as he didn't have any right to tell her who she could see. So instead they both ended up lashing out at each other, instead of acting like rational adults.

She was deep in thought when she heard someone say her name. She jumped slightly before she looked up and saw Norris and Brandon standing in front of her, both giving her the same concerned look. She stood up from the bench and smiled as convincingly as she could at them. "Ready to catch a ferry? … I hope it's not Tinker Bell… she can be a bit bitchy sometimes." She wasn't sure if the guys didn't get her joke or if something else was going on, because it certainly didn't garner much of a laugh from either of them. Neither mentioned Logan again though, so she was hoping he hadn't sent a text to Norris about their little altercation in front of the boutique.

She was able to survive the ride back on the ferry with very little nausea, but also very little conversation with either of the guys. She couldn't help but wonder if Brandon was having second thoughts about pursuing her after Logan's reaction at the dock. His declaration that her still being in love with Logan wouldn't have stopped him from trying to change her mind may not still be true now that he realized that Logan might still have unresolved feelings for her. Maybe seeing it with his own eyes had driven the point home harder than when he'd just thought their feelings for each other were buried in the past. The few times their eyes met each other on the ferry, he would give her polite smiles, but he definitely seemed to be acting more reserved than he had been before.

Norris had been the one to drive Brandon and himself to the ferry, so when they returned to the dock, he told Veronica that he was going to drive Brandon home and then would meet up with her at the station to work more on their case. Brandon had at least given her a warm smile and said he'd see her later, before they separated and headed in different directions toward their cars.

The rest of the afternoon Norris and Veronica spent some time looking through the photos she'd taken and working on more background for the case. Veronica was a little surprised to find out that Benjamin was actually a computer programmer who had invented some pretty popular phone apps and that his millions didn't come from inherited wealth, but instead were all earned by his own hard work. Her expectations of the wealthy had obviously been tainted from growing up in Neptune. They had wanted to talk with his lawyer to check into his current financial situation and his will, but he was out of town and his secretary said he'd be back later that week.

All signs seemed to be pointing to it just being an accidental drowning, but they still wanted to be sure that they were thorough in their investigation. The Medical Examiners report supported drowning being the cause of death, but with the amount of damage the body had sustained when it was in the water, there was no way to tell if something had happened to him before he'd ended up in the water. The toxicology report came back clean of any of the typical drugs that they normally tested for. As Veronica had also suspected from Norris and Brandon's reaction on Catalina, Logan and Benjamin were acquaintances. She'd asked Norris about it on the ferry ride back from Catalina, and he'd confirmed her suspicions about that. He had just said they knew each other though, and didn't go into much more detail about how close they had been.

When it was getting close to 5pm, Veronica's cell phone rang and she nervously pulled it out of her pocket, wondering if it might be Logan finally calling to clear the air. A disappointed look formed on her face when she realized it was Sebastian instead. She debated for a minute about just ignoring him, but thought maybe it was better to just get it over with and talk to him again.

"Hello," she said in a less than friendly tone when she answered it. She still had a mild headache from the earlier hangover and her mood hadn't actually gotten any better since returning from Catalina.

"Hey… Thanks for answering… I was worried Echolls had completely ruined everything and you wouldn't even talk to me… look… I don't know what he thought he saw on the boat, but I swear nothing was going on with me and Elise. I wish there was some way I could prove that to you. Could we at least just get together to talk for a little while? Let me buy you dinner maybe?"

"I'm not really feeling all that great today and I just want to go home when I get done working, so no… I don't want to have dinner with you."

"Veronica, please give me a chance to at least explain. You know he doesn't like me and so of course he's going to blow things out of proportion to make me look bad."

"Sebastian… I just don't think…"

"Veronica I swear nothing happened on the boat yesterday."

Veronica let out a frustrated sigh. "But something has happened before between the two of you and you didn't think that maybe you should have mentioned it if we were going to spend the entire day with her? You had plenty of time after Todd said she was coming along before she got there to say something… and you didn't."

"Would _you_ have?" he asked in a defeated tone. "You never told me how close you and Echolls had been either. And I haven't judged you by what other people may have said about you."

_Dick_. She shook her head silently to herself. _I wonder what sort of things he told Sebastian about me._

"If you dig deep enough you're going to find everyone has something they're not proud of Veronica."

_If you dig deep enough_... She closed her eyes for a moment trying to remember why that sounded so familiar and also made her instantly feel defensive. Her attempt to remember was interrupted by Sebastian talking again though.

"Look, I really am sorry that I didn't mention having some past history with Elise. And I don't know what Jess told Logan, but I thought it was pretty clear when she saw me with Elise that we'd already ended things because she was moving, but maybe she saw it differently."

Veronica let out a long sigh. "I'm really not in the mood to talk about this Sebastian. Give me some time to think about it and maybe we can talk another day."

"Sure... of course... thanks for at least listening now."

"Yeah, bye."

He also said goodbye and ended the call. She glanced over at Norris who was at his desk. "You okay?" he asked with a grim look on his face. She nodded and started closing up the files she was working on.

"Yeah, it's just been a long day," she said with an exhausted look on her face. He nodded in agreement.

They finished up shortly after Sebastian's call and she headed home. There was a note on the counter when she arrived that her dad had to fly to Arizona to track down a bail jumper that was spotted there. Weevil still had Backup, but needed to do some late night surveillance the following evening, so would be bringing him by the next afternoon. Veronica found some leftovers in the fridge and barely stayed awake to finish them off before she went to the guest room to crawl into bed. She accidentally bumped into a small garbage can that was next to the bed in her dad's guest room and had to lean down to put a few pieces of scrap paper back in it. All of a sudden she remembered why what Sebastian had said earlier sparked a memory in her.

_So, where are you, Veronica? Out digging through someone's trash, maybe? Interrogating one of your friends? Beating out a confession? You know, if you dig deep enough, you're gonna find that everyone's a… _That was all she remembered hearing before she deleted the voicemail Logan had left for her right after they'd broken up the last time.

_Oh god… what else did he say in that message? Could that have been the message he mentioned to Brandon? And I didn't even actually listen to all of it._ She fell asleep feeling horrible that she had no idea what else he might have said, knowing now that it had been significant enough that he mentioned it years later to Brandon.

Norris and Veronica were scheduled to start work at 11 the following morning, but she had gotten a call from the DA's office after they'd returned from Catalina to see if she could come meet with one of the ADA's to share the findings on the embezzlement case. The appointment with the ADA was at 10:30, so she headed into the sheriff's office at 10am so she had time to pull all the files together before going to the DA's office. She'd stopped off at the Hut and grabbed a coffee on her way there and was headed into the office when she was practically knocked over by someone coming out at the same time. Luckily her coffee didn't spill on her or the other person, but it did splash out across the ground.

"Sorry," they both said instinctively at the same time before either one of them realized who they'd run into.

Her expression instantly changed from apologetic to slightly distraught as she looked up into Logan's troubled brown eyes. Based on his expression, she could tell he was feeling as uneasy around her now as she was feeling around him. She'd been expecting to have several more hours before he was scheduled to come in, and she still hadn't figured out what to do to try to fix things between them, so running into him earlier than planned just made it worse.

He let out a deep breath and quickly looked her up and down. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to crash into you."

She nodded and then wondered what he was doing there so early, and more so, why he was leaving. "Yeah… I'm tougher than I look," she tried joking back with as confident a smile as she could manage.

He nodded and gave her a small lopsided grin. "You don't need to tell me. I know first hand that you are."

She finally noticed he had a file folder in his hands. "Isn't it a little early in the day to be pilfering case files?" she asked with a small smirk, hoping he realized she was only kidding.

He looked down at the folder he was holding before looking back up at her a bit remorsefully. "I um… I'm headed to LA… for a few days probably."

"Oh…" she let out a small sigh, not really sure what she should say to that.

"Yeah… a case I worked on with the LAPD is finally going to trial, so I'm going up to work with the DA there and then testify." He paused and looked nervously past her for a moment. "I'm sorry… I don't have much time actually… Bex is waiting for me to drive up together."

She gave him a grim smile and nodded, waving her arm in a sweeping motion toward the parking lot. "Well don't let me hold you up," she said in an almost aloof tone.

He nodded and started to walk by her again. She started walking toward the building again, wishing that had gone differently and that he wasn't leaving town. She wanted so badly to think of something to say to make things better, but she had no idea what that might be. Her hand was on the door handle when he spoke again.

"I'm sorry I was an asshole on Catalina… I just…" he paused for a second before he continued. "Fuck... I just can't seem to remember how _not_ to be that guy Veronica. And I'm sorry that maybe I'm just not able to be someone better anymore."

She felt a lump in her throat hearing him say that and didn't have any idea what she should say in response. She stood there frozen for a minute, with her hand on the door handle, but not pulling it open at all. She finally took a deep breath and turned around to say something, but then she saw that he'd already walked off and was climbing into his car to leave. He didn't look her direction at all as he pulled out of the parking lot. She choked back a soft sob and closed her eyes. She felt horrible that she hadn't said something before he'd left and felt even worse knowing that's how he felt about himself. She also didn't believe it, but wasn't sure how to convince him otherwise. She wished she knew what had really happened after she'd left Neptune.

The rest of the day went by excruciatingly slowly. Leo said he'd help fill in if they needed an extra person since he hadn't been able to find someone to fill Logan's spot. It was actually a fairly slow day as far as new calls coming in, so they were easily able to manage being one person down. She had also felt even worse about her painful run in with Logan that morning once Norris had come in and said he'd met him earlier at the Yacht club and told him about Benjamin. She felt terrible that she hadn't even told him she was sorry about that either. She thought about calling or texting him several times that day, but knew he'd be tied up with the DA there, and that it wouldn't be professional at all to distract him from that. On top of everything else she was already feeling crappy about, it didn't help that when Leo told them Logan would be in LA for a few days Doug made a snide comment after Leo walked off about how convenient that was for him to get to spend the week in LA while Bex was working there too.

She finally made it through the rest of her shift and headed home with a plan to take Backup for a nice relaxing walk on the beach. She changed into more comfortable clothes once she got there and then put him on his leash and started the long walk down to the beach that was closest to her dad's house. She was still feeling depressed over how everything was going with Logan when she spotted a familiar mop of blonde hair, bare-chested with a wetsuit hanging down around his waist, talking to a couple of girls in short shorts and bikini tops a few yards up the beach from where she was.

Maybe the universe was finally starting to give her a little bit of a break for once. She headed straight toward them with one objective in mind, find out why Logan had beat up Dick and maybe get a better understanding of why he seemed to be so hard on himself now. She was about 5 feet from them when Dick finally locked eyes with her. For a brief instant she swore she saw a flash of fear cross his face before he replaced it with one of his clueless smirks.

"Shit… Ronnie?" Dick asked as if maybe he was mistaken and it really wasn't her. She hoped he really wasn't stupid enough to think she'd fall for that. "I'd heard you were back in town." Based on the tone in his voice, she could easily tell he wasn't thrilled to see her. Based on the tone in his voice, she could easily tell he wasn't thrilled to see her.

"Hey Dick," she said as she quickly sized up the two women he'd been talking to. He'd handed them each a beer when she was about 10 feet away, before he'd spotted her and she was really hoping that might work to her advantage. "Yeah… I'm working as a deputy with the Sheriff's department now." _Bingo_… As she expected both the girls' eyes got slightly wider as she shared that little piece of information. She was guessing they were likely not quite 21, though she'd guess they were probably 19 or 20. _Hopefully they aren't jail bait at least._ "You're not contributing to the delinquency of minors are you?" she asked with an authoritative tone as she looked seriously at both of the girls.

"They go to school with me at Hearst… you're both 21 right?" Dick asked also looking back and forth at both girls, who nodded, though not terribly convincingly.

"Well then can I see your ID's?" Veronica asked as she looked back and forth between the two girls. "And trust me… I can spot fake ID's from a mile away." She glanced at Dick and he also looked slightly worried, obviously knowing she wasn't lying about that.

"Um… our ID's are up in Britney's car," the shorter of the two girls said looking nervously at her friend.

"Why don't you run up and get them for me," Veronica said with a commanding glare.

The girls nodded and quickly started walking back up to their car.

"So we both know they either aren't coming back, or if they do, they are going to have fake ID's that I'm going to totally bust them for," she said coldly looking at Dick. He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky before looking back at her with a pleading for leniency expression on his face. "But I'll make you a deal _Dick_. I want to know what happened between you and Logan when he beat you up, and if you tell me that, I'll just pretend I didn't see you giving beer to underage girls."

He let out a loud sigh. "Just fucking take me into the station then," he said as he held his hands out so she could slap cuffs on him, if she'd actually had any cuffs with her.

"You'd rather get arrested than just tell me what the two of you fought about?" Veronica asked completely taken by surprise since she really had expected her plan to work.

He nodded. "Look Veronica…" she knew it was bad when he actually called her by her real name. "There's no way in hell I want to get into this with you… I'm sorry… Just do what you need to do… but I'm not going to talk about it."

She stood there looking at him with a seriously puzzled expression on her face. What the hell had happened that he'd rather go to jail than actually tell her? _Fuck, there really only seems to be one logical conclusion, knowing Logan had likely been with Sean Friedrich before it happened._ There was a log next to Dick's cooler and Veronica walked over and took a seat on it.

"It was about Shelly's party wasn't it?" Veronica asked in such a soft voice that she wasn't sure he'd even heard her. He remained frozen where he was, but turned his head to look out toward the ocean instead of at her. Logan of course knew that Cassidy had raped her because of what happened on the roof of the Grand, but she'd never told him everything she'd found out when she'd originally tried to figure out what had happened. She knew the three of them, Cassidy, Dick and Sean, all had slightly different versions of what happened that night, but Sean's was probably the most disparaging against Dick. A part of her had believed Sean's story was likely the closest to reality, but with everything that had happened with Cassidy's death, she'd tried to just block it all out and hadn't really dealt with all the repercussions of it. A part of her did blame Dick though, based on what Sean and Cassidy had told her, but she had seen how messed up Dick was after all that went down with Cassidy's death and drudging up those memories was something she really hadn't wanted to deal with then.

She finally heard him speak, although he was still looking out at the ocean and she could tell he was about ready to sob or had already started. "I'm so sorry Veronica… there's no fucking way for me to make that up to you… I had no idea… but it doesn't make it any better… I don't blame Logan for what he did to me when he found out…"

She felt tears start to roll down her cheeks and then a little sob came out before she could stop it. Dick of course hadn't forced Cassidy to do what he did, although based on Sean's story, he'd more or less bullied him into doing it. He knew what state she was in when they were in that room with her, and there really was no excuse that could make it right. Any decent person wouldn't have done what the three of them had done to an unconscious girl. She put her face in her hands and cried, trying to make herself stop, but couldn't quite find the strength. _Was it better knowing, Veronica? You just had to find out, and now that you did, are you happy with yourself?_ All of a sudden those words echoed back at her again… _Out digging through someone's trash, maybe? Interrogating one of your friends? Beating out a confession? You know, if you dig deep enough…_

She heard Dick sniffle and it sounded like he'd moved closer to her. "Are you going to arrest me?" he asked with a broken tone. She still had her head in her hands as she shook her head, not wanting to look up at him. "Some days I think Logan was right that night… he should have taken me up to the roof and shoved me off… I deserved it more than Cassidy did for all the shit I did…" She shuddered and felt a loud sob escape again as he continued to speak. "There's nothing I can ever do to make up for what happened… or to make up for what I said to Logan that night…" She heard him sniffle again, obviously trying his damnedest not to sob like she was. "Before I realized the truth of what he was saying… I told him he was just as fucked up as his psychotic father… and that it wasn't surprising everyone always left him… even if they had to die to do it…" She felt another sob rack through her. She kept her face buried in her hands, nearly forgetting Backup was here until he nuzzled his nose against her face and licked her. "I really am sorry…" she heard Dick say again as he must have been grabbing his stuff to leave her there alone.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there with her face in her hands, trying to make the tears stop. Tears over being forced to think about what had happened to her again, but also over how badly that had to have hurt Logan for things to turn out the way they did for him and Dick. No matter how angry she ever was with Logan, there was no way she would ever have compared him to Aaron. She couldn't imagine how devastating that must have been for Logan when Dick said that to him, especially if he was strung out on whatever drugs he'd done with Sean, not to mention already being furious over whatever it was that Sean had told him. She was thankful that Logan hadn't actually dragged Dick up to the roof and thrown him off the building for his own sake. She couldn't even imagine how he would have ever lived with himself if he had done that. Based on Dick's initial reaction, she wondered how many other horrible things were said between the two of them that Dick couldn't bring himself to tell her. She also wondered how much of Logan's current self-loathing was tied back to that night.

"Veronica?" asked a concerned voice that she didn't immediately recognize over the other sounds on the beach.

She wished desperately that the voice had belonged to Logan because that was who she really wanted to see right at that moment, but she knew he was in LA and not there with her. She also would never not recognize his voice. She looked up from her hands and saw a very worried Brandon standing in front of her, dressed in running clothes and pulling earbuds out of his ears.

"Hey…" he said warily as he slowly approached her. He crouched down in front of her a few feet away from where she was still sitting on the log. "What's wrong?"

Backup was still at her side and growled softly. "Backup, chill," Veronica said quietly as she placed her hand on this neck.

Veronica shook her head, trying to keep more tears from falling. He gave her a compassionate expression as he slowly stood up and walked toward her, sitting down on the log next to her on the side opposite of where Backup was sitting. He hesitantly reached out and put his arm around her shoulder. "It's okay…" he said softly. She leaned slightly toward him, resting the side of her head against his chest. They sat there for at least five minutes not saying anything at all as she tried to regain her composure.

"Did something happen with Logan?" he finally asked softly. She couldn't speak, and it wasn't exactly a yes or no answer, so she just shrugged instead. "Okay…" he replied quietly and rubbed her shoulder slightly as they sat in silence for a while longer.

She really didn't feel like talking, but she also didn't really want to be alone. She appreciated him being there more than he could possibly know. It wasn't like she wanted Dick to try to comfort her when she started crying, but she almost couldn't believe he'd just left her there crying alone on the beach like that.

She finally sat up a bit straighter and turned to look at Brandon with a heart broken expression on her face. "Did he tell you… did he tell you what he said in the message he left me?"

Brandon gave her a somber look and shook his head slowly. "You never heard it?" he asked, his tone making it clear that he realized the significance of her question.

She shook her head and felt tears start rolling down her cheeks again. "No…" her voice broke as she tried to keep a sob from escaping again. She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked up at the sky for a moment trying to will the tears to stop again. "I think I deleted it without listening to it," she continued in a grief-stricken tone. "I guess it doesn't matter much now… it's too late to do anything about it anyway." She couldn't help but look at him with a pained expression on her face.

He gently squeezed her shoulder a little tighter as she leaned back against him again. "It's never too late for second chances, Veronica," he whispered as his cheek rested on the top of her head.

Veronica let out an incredulous laugh, "I think we've more than used up our quota of second chances though." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't be crying on your shoulder about what I screwed up with him."

"It's okay Veronica," he said in a soothing tone. "I get the feeling you could really use a friend right now and I'm happy to be that for you if you let me."

She closed her eyes for a moment and nodded, her head still resting against his chest. They sat there staring out at the ocean for a few more minutes before he spoke again. "Do you have a car here? Do you want me to drive you home?"

She shook her head. "No, I just walked here from my dad's house."

"Why don't I walk back there with you then?"

She nodded in agreement. She really didn't want to just sit there barely holding herself together on the beach any longer. He stood up first and reached out his hand to pull her up. She kept her grip on his hand once she was standing and he gave her an understanding smile. He moved so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders again and they started walking back up toward the beach access path that she'd come down.

About half-way back, she finally felt like she could talk again. "Did you run all the way from your condo?" She knew that was quite a few miles away from where they were. She also thought talking about a drama-free topic might help her calm down from what happened on the beach.

"No, I'm not that hard core of a runner. I was at work and changed there to go running since it's so rocky where our condo is and I like to run along the beach."

She nodded in understanding and kept leading him in the right direction until they'd made it back to her dad's house. She still felt like she was in a bit of a fog, trying her best not to think about what Dick had said on the way back, but found her imagination kept running away with ideas about what else may have happened that night. When they finally reached the porch to her dad's house she turned so she could look at Brandon again.

"Did he ever talk about what happened the night he got in a fight with Dick Casablancas?" she asked with a troubled look on her face.

Brandon shook his head as he looked at her with a grim expression. "Did you find out something about that night? Is that what you were upset about on the beach?"

She nodded as she felt tears stinging at her eyes again. He reached up and put his hand on her cheek.

"I'm sorry Veronica. I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better."

She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. He dropped his hand from her cheek and took a step closer so he could wrap his arms around her and pull her against his chest as he held her.

Sobbing on her dad's front porch didn't sound much better than doing it on the beach, so she gently pushed away from him, causing a worried expression to spread across his face. "Sorry," he said softly.

She shook her head and pulled out her house key. "You don't need to apologize. I just want to go inside." He nodded and gave her a small smile.

"I'll see you later then," he said as he she turned the key in the lock.

"Please stay," she said, turning back to him quickly. "You were right. I really could use a friend if your offer still stands."

"Of course," he said with a tender smile and a small nod.

She opened the door and they walked inside where she bent down to take Backup's leash off. When she stood up again, she walked over to the couch and sat down. He hesitantly walked toward her and sat down right next to her.

"I wish I knew what he'd thought I'd heard on that message," she said feeling so much regret over that again.

Brandon gave her a confused look. "Why don't you just ask him," he asked, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

She let out a deep sigh and shook her head. "I don't know how to bring that up now. That was such a horrible time in our life and if I bring it up, it might just make things worse than they already are."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder again and she leaned into him. "From an outsiders perspective I'd say you have a ton of unresolved issues between the two of you, and the only way you're going to make that better is to actually talk about them. If he's carrying around all that pain over thinking you reacted a certain way to something you never even heard, I don't see how talking about it now could make it worse. Obviously it mattered a great deal, or he never would have told me about it."

She let out a sad pathetic laugh. "But what if it doesn't really matter to him anymore? You said that was quite a while ago right?"

"You can't tell me after how he reacted yesterday on Catalina that you don't think it matters to him anymore. You're a brilliant woman Veronica, you know exactly why he acted like that." He paused a moment before he continued. "I'm sure you're not going to like me saying this, but I think you're afraid of being honest about how _you_ really feel."

She knew deep down that he was right. Wasn't that always her problem? She was always afraid of being the vulnerable one. Never let anyone know how much they mean to you so they can't hurt you. She wasn't sure she could completely let down her defenses like that though. Wasn't that what had really been happening all week? Any time she felt a bit threatened, she immediately lashed out to protect her self. Attack him before he could hurt her. How was she going to get past that enough to try to fix things? He obviously thinks even less of himself now than he did back then. Back then he'd actually stopped being an ass and showed her how much he loved her… showed her how good it felt to be loved and adored by someone. And she'd thrown it all away. First over the break up because of Madison, and then it just got worse from there until she finally just fled town and left him that stupid letter saying they should stay out of each others lives… that it would be better that way.

"I've never been very good at that," she admitted quietly.

"Something tells me you aren't the only one," he said as he gently rubbed her arm.

"And then there's his relationship with Bex…" she continued. "I don't want it to seem like I'm trying to destroy that by bringing up our past." Even if she really did wish he wasn't with her.

She heard him let out a deep breath. "I'm guessing the two of you are just going to keep having issues until you finally clear the air though. Maybe finally having those difficult conversations will help both of you get closure, even if it doesn't go the direction you hope it might." He paused again. "I know you're not going to like me saying this either, but if what happened between the two of you is what made him so emotionally closed off now, maybe finally getting closure will allow him to move on and have a meaningful relationship with someone… even if it's not you."

She felt tears stinging her eyes again, but knew he was right and nodded slowly against his chest. She still had no idea how actually to have that conversation though. She couldn't imagine just calling him and asking him if they could talk about their past. Just the thought sent a wave of anxiety through her. Avoidance was always what she felt most comfortable with.

They sat in silence for a while before Brandon finally spoke again. "Did you have dinner yet? Maybe getting some food will help you feel a little better."

She shook her head. "I'm um… not really dressed for going out though. Not to mention how much of a mess I'm sure I must look like."

He turned so he could look at her and gave her a tender smile. "You still look beautiful Veronica." He gently ran his thumb along her cheek making her smile softly at him. "Not to mention I was out running so I'm not exactly dressed for formal dining either. But I do know where a great food truck is that's near the fire station if you want to go grab something there and sit on a bench near the beach and eat.

She nodded and took a deep breath. "The least I can do is drive you back to your car since you walked me all the way back here."

They didn't talk much as they sat together watching the waves crashing along the shore while they enjoyed their food in companionable silence. After a while though, she finally felt like she'd delayed going home long enough and suggested that she should get back. He walked her to her car and she gave him a soft smile as she thanked him for being so understanding.

He gave her a slightly guilty look. "My motives may not be as selfless as you're thinking." She gave him a puzzled look before he continued. "You remember what I said earlier about the two of you needing closure so Logan could move on?" She nodded with a solemn expression. "Well I think you need that closure to move on as well, and if there's any slim chance for you to be with me, that's never going to happen until you do." He paused for a second and gave her a tender smile. "I know it's a risky gamble, but I've been around you enough to know you're worth taking any risk for. And if you do end up back with Logan, well I really hope we can still be friends because you really are an amazing woman, Veronica."

She wasn't quite sure what to say to that other than what she was sure came out as just a lame 'thank you'. She honestly didn't know what might happen once they were able to get that closure that they both seemed to desperately need. Of course she still hoped there was some way to get back what they'd lost, but part of her was being more doubtful of that every time they seemed to be around each other the past few days. She really did appreciate Brandon's support and honesty though, and it may have just been the sheer emotional rollercoaster she'd been on lately, but she spontaneously reached out and gave him a quick hug before she climbed into her car and left.

She had hoped spending time with Brandon would help her get the conversation with Dick out of her head, but as she laid in bed trying to fall asleep later that night, those thoughts were the only ones that remained. That ache in her heart thinking about how damaging that night must have been to Logan came back and she felt a few tears roll down her cheeks as she was lying there alone in the dark. She still hadn't figured out how to have the conversation she knew they needed to have, not without just being brave enough to force it. And then suddenly another thought had her feeling even worse. She had told Logan she'd stop prying into what had happened with him and Dick and if she tried to bring up what she learned from Dick with him now, he'd probably be furious at her for not just letting it drop. The emotional toll from the past few days was finally catching up to her though and at least sometime before midnight she'd finally drifted off to sleep.


	21. Chapter 21

_**A/N – Sorry that I've gotten a bit busy and am a little behind on writing. I don't really think I'm going to catch up anytime soon, so updates may be a little slower than before. Also sorry Logan's not in this chapter, but he'll be back in the next one. There are quite a few characters sprinkled through out this one though. Thanks again to everyone who reads all my stories and a special thanks to those of you who take the time to leave reviews. I really do appreciate everyone!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 21

Veronica woke up Wednesday morning to the smell of bacon, which put a smile on her face although the memory of what she'd learned the prior day wasn't far from her mind. That ache she'd had in her heart for Logan after hearing the little snippets of what has transpired between him and Dick quickly came back to her. At least knowing more about what Dick had said to Logan might help her in trying to repair their own relationship. And now that she was back, she wouldn't be one of the people who abandoned him again. She slowly stretched and climbed out of bed and shuffled down the hall, following the delicious scent to the kitchen.

She smiled as she saw the happy look on her dad's face. "Got your guy?" she asked playfully as she headed to the cabinet for a coffee mug, scratching Backup's head as she walked by him.

"You betcha," Keith replied as he transferred the bacon to a plate. He grabbed a second plate with French toast and headed over to the table where he'd already put out plates and silverware for them.

She carried her filled mug over to the table and took a seat, staring balefully at the stack of French toast. Of course it immediately brought back thoughts of having French toast on Logan's yacht Sunday morning.

"Do I need to dial 911? Since when do you not immediately attack my French toast?" Keith asked with light hearted concern on his face.

"Sorry," she said softly as she reached out to take a piece. "It just reminded me of something." She kept her gaze on her plate and heard him let out an audible sigh.

"Is this the same _'something'_ that had you bothered at Alicia's Sunday night?" Keith asked as he raised his eyebrow at her.

"You weren't supposed to notice that," she replied with a small pout on her lips.

Keith rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly. "You've been gone too long if you really think I wouldn't notice. I'm guessing your case probably wouldn't make you flinch at the sight of French toast, so it must be a guy?"

Veronica shrugged and drowned her French toast in syrup.

"Sebastian?" Keith asked as Veronica reached out for some of the bacon.

She shook her head and bit off a bite of one of the bacon strips.

"The fireman?" He asked next and she shook her head again.

Keith let out a deep sigh. "Logan?"

She shrugged and ran the piece of bacon she was still holding through the syrup on her plate.

"Is it not going so well working with him?"

She shook her head in response. "No, we actually work together really well. He was amazingly helpful on my embezzlement case. He really seems to be a good deputy. It's outside of work that we seem to have issues."

"Are you two... _together_ again?"

Veronica laughed a little bitterly and shook her head adamantly. "Oh no. He has a girlfriend."

"Yeah... you mentioned that before..." he replied hesitantly, clearly holding back what he really wanted to say.

She glanced up from her plate to see that he had his disapproving father look on his face. "What?" she asked with a slightly annoyed tone to her voice.

"Maybe you need to stick to just being strictly professional..." Keith replied a bit hesitantly. "It's not always possible for exes to figure out how to just be friends."

"Thanks Doctor Phil..." She grumbled as she took a large bite of the maple drenched toast.

Keith looked amused and chuckled. "Yeah, you should have been here when I grew a moustache... constantly mistaken for him, so I shaved it off."

She rolled her eyes and went back to focusing on her food. _Even if he's right I don't want to give up on Logan. I want him in my life again so badly because I missed him so much. I want to fix him and make him believe in love again. Of course nothing I ever want is easy._

Apparently her response or expression were enough to give him the hint that she didn't want to discuss it with him, and he went back to eating his breakfast as well.

Keith told her that she was invited to have dinner at Alicia's that evening if she didn't have other plans. Wallace had been out of town for a few days for work and was coming back that afternoon. She thought that sounded like a great idea since she really hadn't spent much time with him since coming back to Neptune with both of them working, and then she'd bailed out early on Sunday night.

When she made it to the station she found out that, as expected, Logan was still in LA for the trial and Leo didn't think he'd be back until probably Friday. She spent part of the day with Norris at McCade to give Tom and his attorneys an update on the case. They were extremely happy that they had enough information to press charges and terminate Belinda for embezzling from the company. They'd sent another set of deputies to formally arrest and charge her, while Veronica and Norris were handling the wrap up with Tom's attorneys and someone the DA's office had sent over. Veronica was a little concerned about potential awkwardness with Todd if Sebastian had told him what happened between them, so she was relieved he didn't seem to be around when they were there.

They also worked more on Benjamin's case and were finally able to meet with his lawyer. The prenup he'd put in place with Bethany was pretty standard and he had changed his will to include her even though they'd actually only been married for a few months. They had a few more things to check into, but were still leaning toward it just being an accidental drowning. Benjamin's parents were finally reached on Tuesday afternoon, so Leo had made a press release about the tragedy, asking anyone who may have any information to help the investigation to contact the Sheriff's department.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful and she was off work in plenty of time to head home and change clothes to go over to Alicia's for dinner. Her dad was still working when she arrived at Alicia's with Backup, but Wallace was there already and the two of them grabbed a couple of beers and headed out on the back patio.

"So how's it going being back in town?" Wallace asked as they took a seat next to each other on the porch.

Veronica smiled and shrugged. "It's going okay I guess."

Wallace gave her a suspicious look. "Hmm… that wasn't quite the reaction I expected. Mac said you seemed to have a pretty good time with Brandon the other night when you bailed on family dinner night."

"Traitor," she grumbled under her breath. "Yeah… sorry about that."

Wallace laughed and shook his head. "I get it… I would have been a fifth wheel."

Veronica gave him an apologetic smile. "I should have asked if you wanted to come along, but I knew you had to catch an early morning flight."

"It's fine Supafly, I was just kidding," He studied her for a moment before he continued. "So why the less than enthusiastic response? Not liking your new job?"

"No… It's good. It's just… complicated," she said staring at her beer bottle.

Wallace bumped his shoulder into hers. "Hey, don't forget who you're talkin' too. We may not have been able to see each other much over the last four years, but I'm always here for you if ya need a friend."

She looked up at him with a grateful smile and bumped her shoulder back into his. "Thanks, Papa Bear," she said softly.

"Let me guess…. Echolls?" Wallace asked with a quirked brow.

Veronica let out a sigh and nodded. "Yeah… he's definitely been the main complication." She saw the disapproving expression forming on Wallace's face. "Though it's not entirely his fault at all. I'm just as much to blame."

Wallace looked skeptically at her. "If I had to guess, I'd say 90% his fault, 10% your fault."

Veronica gave him a smug smile. "That's just cuz you love me." She let out a sigh and became a bit more serious. "I think 50-50 is more appropriate though. We're just having a hard time figuring out how to be friends again. I think we both have some unresolved feelings that are getting in the way."

"It's got to be tough working with him then," Wallace said thoughtfully.

Veronica shrugged. "Actually that seems to be the one area we haven't had any issues. I actually really like working with him. I guess that's one of the reasons why I'm so frustrated that we can't figure out how to make things work away from our jobs too."

Wallace shook his head. "I've never been a huge fan of the guy, but I do want you to be happy. Hopefully you'll figure it out. I mean if you went from him bashing in your headlights to being madly in love once, I'm sure you'll figure out how to at least be friends again, right?"

Veronica let out a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah… I'm sure we will." She definitely wanted that, but still wasn't sure how exactly to make it happen. She wished he was back in town so they could at least try talking again.

Her dad arrived shortly after and Veronica savored every minute of their relaxing family dinner. When they were finished Wallace asked if she wanted to drive over to see his new place since she still hadn't made it there yet. She followed him in her car to the loft apartment that was actually fairly close to the bar she'd gone to with Mac, Norris and Brandon. She parked her car next to his and they took the elevator up to his 3rd floor apartment. He unlocked the door and swung it open for her to enter and then practically bumped into her when she froze in her tracks right after walking inside.

Amira was stretched out naked on the sectional couch with candles lit on the table in front of her. She let out a shriek as she reached for a robe that was on the end of the couch. Veronica covered her eyes and let out an awkward laugh.

"Oh shit," she heard Wallace say from behind her. "I thought you weren't getting back until tomorrow."

"Surprise…" Amira said with a frustrated tone. "You can uncover your eyes now, _Veronica_," she added sounding even more irritated.

"Sorry," Veronica said as she cringed and tried to smile. "I um… I should probably go."

"Yes, that would probably be best," Amira replied crisply, clearly not wanting Veronica to be there.

"Mira…" Wallace said in a soothing voice as he stepped around to the side of Veronica. "She could stay for a little while. She just got here."

Amira's eyes opened wide in disbelief as she looked at Wallace.

"It's fine Wallace. Nice place… I really should get going. Nice to see you Amira," Veronica said as she turned and headed back toward the door. She heard Wallace let out a frustrated grunt before he followed her out the door.

"Sorry V…" he looked at her closely. "You don't seem all that surprised though. I take it Mac told you about the two of us?"

Veronica nodded. "Yeah… she mentioned it."

He nodded and blew out a breath. "I should have told you though. I know the two of you haven't always gotten along."

"At least it's not Madison Sinclair," Veronica said with a smirk and patted him on the cheek. "Have fun in there Wally," she said with a sly grin before she turned and headed back to the elevator. She heard Wallace chuckle before she heard his door open and close again.

When she made it back to her car she sat staring at the steering wheel for a few minutes. Her dad was probably staying over at Alicia's or at least staying until late in the evening. She'd left Backup there with him, so she'd be heading home to an absolutely empty house. She decided to see what Mac was doing since she hadn't seen her since Sunday night either and wasn't really in the mood for sitting home alone.

"Hey Bond," Mac said in a chipper tone when she answered the phone. "What's up with you?"

Veronica laughed before she answered. "Trying to get the image of a naked Amira stretched out on Wallace's couch out of my mind actually."

Mac laughed hysterically as Veronica had expected. "Oh no, that's terrible."

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me!"

"I um… I'm at Norris's actually. We were just about to watch a movie if you want to come hang out with us. I promise there aren't any naked women lying around."

Veronica laughed. "Sure… that sounds great. See you soon." She'd originally hoped to just catch Mac by herself, but hanging out with Norris and Brandon as well sounded pretty good too. She suddenly realized she'd just assumed Brandon was there too, although Mac hadn't actually said that. On the drive over, she really hoped she wasn't going to end up being a third wheel to the two of them. While it wouldn't be as bad as the scene at Wallace's, that still would be a bit awkward. She worked on a good exit strategy on the short drive there so she would be prepared if she needed to flee.

She hesitantly rang the bell and was relieved when Brandon opened the door.

"Hey," he said with a warm smile on his face. "I um..." He glanced over his shoulder for a minute before turning back to her. "Want to go on a non-date date?" As she squished up her face in confusion he gestured with his head in the direction of the main room. "I was actually planning my escape when you called Mac... thought they might prefer the house to themselves," he explained with a wink. She smirked back and nodded. "It might be tougher to come up with a legitimate excuse now though," he added with a concerned look on his face.

"Leave that to me," she said with a mischievous smile. He waved his arm in a sweeping motion indicating she should go in and then he followed behind her.

After a quick greeting Veronica used poor Backup as an excuse again, telling Mac and Norris that her dad had called her right as she was parking and asked if she could go and take him for a run since he was tied up for the evening and Brandon had volunteered to go along. Neither one acted like they suspected a thing and so a few minutes later, Veronica and Brandon were standing out by her car.

"You're very convincing," Brandon said with an impressed expression on his face. "Do we really need to take him for a run?"

Veronica laughed and shook her head. "No. So what _should_ we do?" Brandon shrugged and shook his head. "Ice cream on the boardwalk?" she asked with a hopeful expression. Even though she'd had a small slice of pie at Alicia's, she knew she'd still have room for ice cream.

Brandon smirked at her and nodded. They climbed into her car and a short while later they were walking out of Amy's with double scoop waffle cones. They walked along the boardwalk for a while until they found an empty bench that faced the ocean. They hadn't said much on the drive there, and she was wondering if he was being cautious because of her melt down the day before. While she certainly wasn't one of those people that had to fill every moment with noise, the silence was starting to get to her.

"So what were you studying at college before you became a firefighter," she finally asked to break the silence.

"Communications," he said with a laugh as he looked up at her. "I decided saving people's lives was more rewarding though."

She nodded in understanding. She shared her failed attempt at working for the student newspaper at Hearst with him as they continued eating their cones and then he talked about a few classes he'd enjoyed before he left college. They were definitely keeping it much lighter than the day before. No mention of Logan, or what had happened the day before.

It was getting close to sunset and she saw him glance at his watch. "Need to get back?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah... I should. I've got the early shift tomorrow. You're coming bowling tomorrow night right?"

She'd sort of forgotten about the Thursday night bowling tradition already and couldn't help but think back to how Logan had been so great to her that night. She shrugged not really sure if she wanted to go again.

"You should definitely come. It will keep your mind off other things," he said knowingly.

"Maybe," she said as she stood up from the bench and playfully held out her hand to pull him up. She couldn't help but notice how much distance he'd kept between them all night. He smiled and took her hand before standing up and gave it a little squeeze before dropping it.

The ride back was about as quiet as the ride there. She gave him a warm smile when they parked in front of his condo.

"Thanks for being my partner in crime tonight," he said with an amused smile. "I'm sure Norris would thank you too if he knew."

She chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, maybe he'll buy me lunch tomorrow," she said jokingly.

"Well you deserve it, that's for sure," he replied with a smile. "He sure does have it bad for Mac."

Veronica laughed and nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty obvious. Their big Japanese art show thing at Hearst is this weekend right?"

Brandon nodded. "Yep, he's been looking forward to that since he first brought it up to her. I'll be out on Catalina all day again, so at least I won't have to be an awkward third wheel around here that day."

Veronica laughed at that. "Any time you need an escape, you can always use me as your excuse."

"I'll remember that," he said as he reached across and squeezed her hand that was resting on the center console. "Thanks for the walk and ice cream."

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, of course."

He gave her a slightly more intense look. "I hope you come bowling tomorrow night. I really think it'll be fun."

She nodded again. "Maybe I will."

"Well, goodnight," he said with a tender smile as he picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. "Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow then."

She nodded again and said good night as well before he climbed out of the car and headed up to the door. She still found it a bit puzzling that at times he seemed to give her such a strong signal that he was interested in her and then other times, it seemed that he was really trying to keep his distance. She appreciated that he was still trying to be her friend at least even with the awkward situation they all seemed to be in at the moment.

Veronica and Norris were also scheduled to start a little earlier than normal on Thursday, which she thought he may have previously arranged because of bowling night. They had taken several morning calls and hadn't had a lot of time to work on Benjamin's case, but they still hadn't discovered anything to rule it more than just accidental either. There also hadn't been anyone calling in with any information about it after the press release. Brandon had called Norris shortly before lunch time to see if he could pick up deli sandwiches for them all for lunch. The three of them, as well as Doug, were sitting around Norris's desk finishing their food when Veronica heard the front door open and close. She glanced over to see who had come in and was surprised to see it was Carmen Ruiz.

"Carmen?" Veronica said, certainly not expecting to see her walk into the station. Carmen was dressed impeccably in a very professional looking pant suit with her long dark hair expertly pulled back in a refined twist.

"Hey Veronica," Carman replied with a friendly smile. "Logan said you were back in town. I was hoping I'd bump into you at some point."

"You're friends with Logan?" Veronica asked a little confounded by that. She never really considered them friends when they were in high school.

"Yeah… well we work together a lot. I'm the director at a foundation that works with victims of domestic violence and Logan recently joined the board of directors. We've worked together on legal cases too involving some of the people that we help through the foundation."

Veronica was even more surprised by that, but given his past, she knew she shouldn't be. She was more surprised that no one had mentioned it to her in the time that she'd been back. Veronica realized she hadn't made sure that Carmen knew the other guys at the desk as she glanced over at them.

"Do you know everyone?" she asked turning to look at Carmen again.

She shook her head. "No... well of course I know Norris," she said giving him a quick smile. Norris nodded and smiled back.

"This is Doug," Veronica said as she pointed at Doug. "And this is Brandon." She couldn't help but notice both guys seemed quite taken by her given the expressions on their faces and she couldn't really blame them. Carmen had been pretty in high school and she certainly had gotten even more beautiful now.

"Nice to meet you," they both said at the same time, causing Carmen to giggle in amusement at them.

"Yeah, likewise," she replied with a coy smile. She turned her attention back to Veronica, although Veronica couldn't help but notice her gaze lingered on Brandon for just a few moments longer than Doug. "I just came by to drop off a report for Leo," she said as she held up a folder. "I do need to get back for a meeting, but it was really good seeing you. We should… I don't know… get together for drinks or something and hang out sometime."

"You should come bowling with us tonight," Doug blurted out quickly.

Veronica laughed and shook her head slightly. "Yeah, you're welcome to come join us. Brandon will of course be on the opposing Fire Department team, but you could come and cheer for the rest of us," she replied with a teasing look at Brandon.

"Oh… sure… I don't actually have any plans tonight. Logan's mentioned it a few times and it does sound fun," Carmen replied and Veronica noticed that she glanced in Brandon's direction again. _If I didn't know better I'd say someone is a bit smitten by the strapping blonde fireman._

Veronica took the file to deliver to Leo from her and let Carmen know the time to be at the bowling alley before she said a quick goodbye to her and all the guys and left. Veronica laughed at the guys and shook her head. "You're all shameless aren't you? Well not Norris, he at least kept his eyeballs in his head."

"Come on Veronica," Doug said in defense. "She's gorgeous… and obviously successful… and charming… and…"

"I get it," Veronica interrupted and shook her head looking at Brandon as well. He just gave her a sheepish grin and shrugged. _I suppose I could be a good wingman since I'm not willing to stake my own claim on him._

They stayed pretty busy the rest of the afternoon with several calls that they had to go out for. They were a little busier than they had been the day before, especially with Logan still gone and no specific person called in to cover for him. Leo had been out of the office all afternoon, working on a case with the D.A., although he had said if they got too backed up to call him. She found some time in between going out on calls to type up the rest of the information they had on the Donaldson case so they could go over it in the morning with Leo.

Once their shift was over, she headed home to change and grab a bite to eat before she headed to the bowling alley. She'd already heard from Norris that Mac was planning to join them as well, and the two of them were grabbing some dinner before they went so Veronica didn't want to interfere with that. She arrived at the bowling alley at the same time as Carmen and the two walked in together. Carmen had also changed into more casual clothes, though she still looked stunningly beautiful with her long dark hair falling in a cascade of curls over her shoulders. Veronica suggested that she should get shoes and she could bowl on which ever team was short on bowlers. Brandon happened to walk in when Veronica was trying to convince her to bowl and when Carmen said she really wasn't a very good bowler, Brandon gave her an encouraging smile and said she shouldn't worry about it and that he'd be happy to give her some pointers.

"Brandon's a great teacher," Veronica said with a reassuring smile. "Trust me, you'll be in great hands with him showing you what to do."

Carmen hesitantly agreed and Veronica couldn't help but notice the small glances she kept giving Brandon. Since they were a little early Brandon said they could bowl a few frames and he'd give her a quick lesson while they waited for more of the group to arrive. Veronica sat, watching them, and gave Carmen supportive comments as she threw her ball. Much like when Brandon had given her pool tips, he was pretty hands on and helped correct the way Carmen was holding the ball, standing and lining up her aim. It was pretty obvious Carmen was enjoying all the one-on-one attention. Veronica did catch Brandon giving her a few quick glances, which she guessed were to be sure she wasn't upset that he was helping Carmen. At one point Carmen had walked over to try to find a lighter ball, so Veronica took the opportunity to try to set Brandon's mind at ease, though she also didn't want to be too overt.

"Carmen's really great isn't she?" Veronica asked as she gave him a comfortable smile. He nodded and looked a bit tentative. "We went to high school together and she definitely proved to me that she was a much better person than I could ever be." He gave her a questioning look before she continued. "A story for another time perhaps," she said with a sly smile right before Carmen appeared next to Brandon with a broad grin on her face.

As it turned out they did have more people there for the Sheriff's department than the fire department, so it made the most sense for Carmen to bowl on Brandon's team. Mac and Norris had arrived shortly after Brandon, and Veronica noticed Mac giving her questioning glances a few times as they were watching Brandon coach Carmen. When Veronica and Mac walked over to pick out their own balls, Mac took advantage of the alone time to ask what was going on.

"What's up with you playing match maker to Brandon and Carmen? I thought you liked Brandon?" she asked as she watched Veronica carefully.

"Was I that obvious," Veronica asked in reply with a sly grin. She knew she'd never get anything by Mac, and she wasn't actually even trying to be all that stealthy about it.

Mac rolled her eyes at Veronica. "Yeah, the cupid's quiver, bow and arrow gave you away," she replied sarcastically. "What gives?"

Veronica let out a deep sigh and looked a bit more seriously at her. "I like Brandon… he's really nice… but…"

"But he's not fettuccine?" Mac asked with a knowing smile.

Veronica laughed and nodded her head and then gave Mac a somber look. "No he's not… and since I still seem to be craving fettuccine, it's just not fair to lead him on."

Mac sighed and nodded. "Hopefully the fettuccine pulls his head out of his ass soon and realizes what he really wants too. I heard about Catalina you know?"

Veronica nodded slowly. "I sort of figured you might… yeah, that was a little intense... and they didn't even see our little showdown later in the middle of the sidewalk." Mac gave her a questioning look. "We should get back… maybe I'll tell you about it later… it wasn't that big of a deal really… just one more little bump in the road," Veronica added as she tried to give her a more convincing smile.

"Alright… let's go play cupid then," Mac said as she threw her arm around Veronica's shoulders and they headed back with their bowling balls to join the rest of the group.


	22. Chapter 22

_**A/N – So this chapter is different because about half of it was actually the first thing I wrote for this story, and then I went back to create the story leading up to it. (The "new location" is where it starts – you'll know what I mean when you get there) I had to makes some tweaks because it didn't all still fit when we got here, but I was able to keep a lot, which is also why I already have another chapter ready. The next updates may take me a little bit longer since I'm still keeping busy. **_

_**Thanks again to everyone who reads all my stories and a special thanks to those of you who take the time to leave reviews. I really do appreciate everyone! And thanks to Bondopoulos too for beta work once again!**_

_**At least this chapter is relatively long! **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 22

Veronica headed into the break room at the station to put the leftover spaghetti that she'd made the night before into the refrigerator so she could have it later for lunch. She momentarily paused and glanced at some of the to-go containers that were in there. She shuddered wondering what she'd find if she actually opened any of those innocuous looking white boxes._ I wonder how often anyone actually cleans this thing out?_ She was just shutting the door of the fridge when she heard someone's footsteps in the doorway behind her.

"I guess a leopard doesn't change their spots, do they?" Logan's voice cut harshly through the silence of the room before she'd even turned around and she could tell from the tone that he was angry. Veronica turned toward him and gave him a confused look, but before she could even say anything, he started talking again. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, although I am disappointed… You always did seem to excel at blackmailing people."

"Wait…" Veronica finally interjected, realizing where this was coming from. Ever since she really stopped to process what had happened on the beach with Dick, she'd had a nagging concern in the back of her mind about how Logan might react to it. She hoped he would at least give her a chance to try to explain herself, but Logan continued on without letting her say another word.

"When Todd asked me what it was like working with my insane ex-girlfriend, my first reaction was figuring out whether to ask him what the hell he was talking about or just punch him in the face, but then he told me how he stopped by to see Dick on Tuesday night and he was a fucking wasted mess because Veronica Mars had accosted him on the beach."

Veronica couldn't help reacting to that with a slight grimace, and he immediately noticed and shook his head at her, narrowing his eyes a bit more. She thought she'd at least try to explain her side of things. "Logan… I…" she barely got it before he cut her off again.

"I asked you to drop it and I thought you were going to… although I really should have known better. I didn't expect you to _extort_ Dick to find out though." He was clearly furious with her based on his tone.

"I didn't…" she started again, before he interrupted her.

"Are you seriously going to try to tell me that you didn't threaten to arrest him for contributing to minors if he didn't tell you what our fight was about?" Logan asked with an angry incredulous look on his face. "Because that's a pretty _specific_ story for it not to be true."

This was not how she wanted this conversation with him to go at all. She gave him an apologetic look before she finally tried to talk again but she knew there really wasn't any justification she could give him right now for doing it that would make it seem better with how angry he was and the position he'd already taken regarding what she had done. "I thought it would help if I knew… I'm sorry..."

"Help what Veronica?" he asked angrily. "How can going behind my back, in spite of what I asked you to do, help anything!"

"Hey Logan," Doug called out from behind him. "We have a call we need to take."

"Great," Logan said angrily and stormed passed Doug out toward the desks.

"Good morning Veronica," Doug said with a grim smile before he turned and followed Logan through the station.

Veronica let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head. _Fuck, that so didn't go how I wanted it to at all._

"Veronica, can I see you in my office," Leo called out from beyond the door. Of course his office had to be right next to the break room.

Veronica closed her eyes for a second and took another deep breath before she started walking toward his office. He was sitting at his desk when she got there and as soon as she walked in he told her to close the door. She wasn't sure if Logan had told him what she'd done, or if he'd just overheard their little argument in the next room, but either way he didn't look happy. She took a seat across from him and waited for him to admonish her.

"Do you remember what I told you before you started?" Leo asked as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"That you were thrilled to have me on board?" she asked with a grimaced expression.

"I told you not to turn Logan into collateral damage," he said sternly.

"I know," she replied meekly.

"And do I need to explain our position on _coercion_ with you?" he asked next, still giving her a very angry look.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry… I just…" All she could do was to let out a defeated sigh.

"Look Veronica," he said a bit softer. "I was the deputy called to the hospital when Dick was admitted… I know it was ugly… and I also pretty much know Logan's role in it… not that there was ever an official report filed… but that was before… he's worked really hard to change… to be a better guy… if you care about him at all, don't go picking at all those old wounds Veronica."

She nodded and gave him a concerned look. "It's just… sometimes it seems like he acts like he thinks he's still that guy or something… that he's not as good as you and I both know that he is… I just want him to see that… see that he really is a good guy…"

"Then help him realize that in the present Veronica… don't go digging up skeletons that are better off buried."

She nodded in understanding and looked down at her lap. _But what if digging into our past is the only way to fix things?_

"Be back in here with Clayton in thirty minutes to give me an update on the Donaldson case," he said as he grabbed a folder off his desk, essentially dismissing her.

"Got it," she said as she stood up and headed for the door.

"Veronica," he said solemnly right as she reached for the handle. "I'm sorry, but I meant it when I said I would choose him over you… figure out how to make this work, or I _will_ let you go."

She swallowed hard and nodded before she opened the door and walked out.

Norris gave her a concerned look as she walked back to her desk. He had arrived sometime between now and when she'd gone in to put her leftovers in the fridge, obviously early enough that he knew something was going on though.

"Leo wants us in his office in thirty minutes for an update on the Donaldson case," she said as she found the case file on her desk. "I'll check to see if we've gotten any new calls on it."

"Um... There was only one... Just someone who also saw the two of them walking back to the boat on Catalina," he said as he stood up and walked a sheet of paper over to her. There was a sticky note on the paper that said, 'Checked the call log when I got in this morning. Only this came in.' She instantly recognized the hand writing as Logan's. _So he was mad enough not to give it to me, but not so mad that he wouldn't still help us._

"Thanks," she said as she took the sticky note off the sheet, added the sheet to the file, crunched up the sticky note and tossed it in the trash.

The meeting with Leo to brief him on the case went as well as could be expected and he agreed that based on everything they'd found it seemed to most likely be an accident. He said they could keep it open to see if anything else came up, put for a preliminary ruling they'd file it as accidental.

There were several calls that came in to the station throughout their shift, and since there weren't as many teams working in the morning as there would be later in the day, it kept the four of them busy. There were a couple times that Veronica passed Logan coming and going, but he didn't say a word to her and she still hadn't figured out what to say to him to make things better yet. She also didn't want to end up arguing with him in the station and have Leo on her case again.

Toward the end of Logan's shift both groups ended up coming back from calls at the same time. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked before they walked into the station. Logan clenched his jaw for a moment, but then nodded. Norris and Doug both gave each other a slightly worried look before they continued into the station without them.

"Look… I'm sorry that you're angry…" Veronica started to explain. Although she still didn't have a sound argument worked out in her mind and was going to have to wing it, but she was worried that the longer this went on, the worse it might be.

"More disappointed than angry," Logan clarified, though from his tone and posture, she wasn't entirely convinced. He stood there glowering at her with his arms crossed as he continued to talk in a very contentious tone. "Like I already said, I shouldn't have been surprised… I'm still an arrogant asshole and you still think you have a right to know things about everyone in your life, regardless of the cost or whether they want you to know or not. You told me once that secrets don't stay buried around you and we both know why they don't."

"I don't think you're an arrogant asshole Logan, and I'm sorry that I asked Dick what happened," she replied firmly, not willing to back down to him at all now.

Logan laughed bitterly and shook his head. "Well stick around sweetheart. I'm sure you'll see exactly how arrogant of an asshole I can be. And _asked_? I wouldn't call blackmailing someone 'asking' and trust me… I have first hand experience with that... you see I used to know this girl..."

"I said I was sorry Logan," she tried again, although his attitude was clearly pushing her to become very defensive as well and it came out very combative and not all that apologetically.

The door to the building opened right before either one of them could say anything else and Norris walked out. "Leo wants to see you Logan, and we need to take a call Veronica," he said as he narrowed his eyes at the two of them and walked toward Veronica.

"Oh darn, duty calls... And here this was such an enjoyable conversation," Logan said sarcastically and turned and walked into the building. Veronica let out a frustrated sigh as the door slammed behind him.

"Just give him a few days… he'll cool off," Norris said as he looked compassionately at her.

"I just wanted to try to make things better between the two of us and it seems as if it gets worse by the day," Veronica said with a defeated tone.

"Like I said… just give him some time. He's always the most upset about something right when it happens, then he'll start feeling like a jerk for it and apologize later."

Veronica gave him a frustrated look. "I don't want him to feel like a jerk though… I feel like that's all I've done since I've been back… cause him to do things that he ends up feeling bad about." She let out another deep sigh and followed Norris to the cruiser.

When they finally made it back from the call Veronica knew Logan's shift should have been over, so she was surprised to see his Range Rover was still in the parking lot. She wondered if she should try talking to him again, although maybe Norris had been right earlier. Perhaps giving him some space and time to cool off would be best. She was surprised that when they walked back inside, he was leaning against her desk reading through a case file. As she got closer though, she noticed it was the Donaldson folder that Logan was standing there reading through.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Logan said as he saw that Veronica and Norris had walked in. "An accident? You're ruling Benjamin's death an accident?" He was mostly looking at Norris as he spoke, almost as if she wasn't even there. _Okay, clearly not in a better mood._

"That's not your case Echolls," Leo said as he walked up behind him unexpectedly.

"Clearly," Logan said angrily. "If it was mine, I wouldn't have fucked it up."

"Logan," Leo said in an angry warning tone. "I've reviewed the case, and there isn't any evidence to support it being anything other than accidental at this time."

Logan slammed the folder down on Veronica's desk. She expected some rebuttal, but instead Logan just gave them all an angry glare, grabbed his coat and stormed out of the station.

After Leo returned to his office, Norris gave Veronica a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about Logan… or the case. He's just got a ton of shit going on with the trial he was testifying for not going well, Bex leaving… and well you know… your little thing with him."

Veronica nodded and picked up the Donaldson case file and flipped through it again. She hadn't actually wanted to rule it accidental, but they still hadn't been able to find anything that would point in another direction yet. She couldn't help but wonder if Logan knew something that they didn't that would help. He'd certainly helped with the embezzlement case. She decided that maybe talking to him about it would be the best thing to do, even if he was mad about her talking to Dick. If he didn't think it was an accident and had another direction they should go, she knew he'd probably put their personal differences aside to get to the bottom of the case. As their shift was about over Veronica decided to tell Norris that she wanted to talk to Logan about the case and asked for his address. Norris looked a bit skeptical about her talking to him, but gave her the address anyway.

It wasn't very long of a drive and shortly after leaving the sheriff's station, Veronica pulled into the driveway of the address that Norris had given her. _Of course his house would be in the 09er zip code and a beach front location as well._ Veronica took a deep breath and then walked up to the front door and hesitantly rang the door bell. _You're just here to ask him about the case, don't be so nervous. Start with just the case and if we can get through that, then maybe we can try working on our own issues later._ She started tapping her foot as she waited for Logan to answer the door.

She hadn't expected the door to be opened by a young girl in very short shorts and a tank top. She must have been only 16 or 17 and had long light brown hair.

"Can I help you?" she asked in that tone that an uninterested annoyed teenager would use.

"Um… Is Logan Echolls here?" For a moment Veronica thought maybe she just had the wrong house. _Maybe my subconscious transposed the numbers because I really didn't want to see him._

The girl nodded and left the door open, but didn't ask her to come in. She wasn't sure what to do so she stood there frozen for a moment just watching the girl who'd turned toward a door that opened outside where she could just barely see the edge of a pool.

"Hey Freckles!" she yelled out. "It's for you!"

She turned back to Veronica. "He'll be here in a minute." The girl gave Veronica a closer look now than she had when she opened the door. "Wait… don't I know you?"

Veronica was sure she'd never seen this girl before in her life and shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm Veronica Mars. I'm new at the Sheriff's Department."

The girl's face broke out in a large grin, but before she could say anything Logan had appeared through the doors that led outside. Veronica's gaze momentarily shifted from the girl to Logan who apparently had been out swimming. He was wearing nothing but a pair of swim trunks that seemed intent on sitting part way down his hips, accentuating the abs that he certainly didn't have the last time she'd seen him without a shirt on. She thought he'd looked more fit in his uniform, but actually seeing him shirtless was an entirely different experience. She could still make out the fading marks of bruises that must have been from the altercation the week before. He had a towel thrown across his broad shoulders and there was still a bit of wetness across his chest. Veronica momentarily forgot why she was there, until she saw the pissed off look on his face and then it came crashing back to her.

"Thanks, I've got it," Logan said to the girl who Veronica looked back to then and saw she had an even goofier grin on her face.

"But that's…" the girl started to say.

"Zip it Button-Fly." Logan said quickly to cut her off.

"Whatever… Freckles," the girl said as she rolled her eyes and then turned to head up some stairs that were off the foyer. "I'm going to Amanda's."

"Be home by 10 this time. No more coming home after midnight. I don't want to have to go down to talk to the guidance counselor again about why you fell asleep in your history class." Logan said in a very paternal tone that completely caught Veronica by surprise. She felt her mouth fall open before she noticed it and luckily closed it while he was still focused on the annoyed teen walking up the stairs.

"It's not my fault history is so freaking boring," the girl said as she continued up the stairs with an obviously annoyed tone. "Plus doofus, it's Friday. No school tomorrow."

"I don't care that it's Friday. You're still in trouble for last night. 10pm Heather, or I'm taking your car keys away and you'll have to ride the school bus next week!" he yelled after her before turning back to Veronica. He still had an annoyed look on his face, and she wasn't sure if it was due to what happened at the station, or at the girl who'd just slammed a door upstairs.

"What was... I mean... Who..." was all Veronica could stammer out as he looked at her and she pointed up the stairs in the direction the girl had gone.

He smirked at her finally, which she decided was better than the icy glare he had when he left the station and when he came in from outside. "That's Heather Button. I'm her legal guardian."

His smirk got a bit bigger as her expression took on one of complete shock. "And why?" she asked next.

He shook his head and gestured for her to walk in. She'd actually forgotten she was still just standing in the doorway and walked in so he could close the door. After he closed it, he turned and started walking away so she assumed she was supposed to follow him. She realized just how toned he really was while watching the muscles in his back flex as he lifted the towel off his shoulders to dry his hair a bit more. _Don't drool on the Italian marble, Veronica._ The foyer led into a kitchen and he went to get a bottle of water from the fridge. "Want one?" he asked as he pulled it out. She shook her head, partly to answer him and partly to clear out the thoughts she was having over his half naked obviously very taught and tanned body.

"Her parents had just gotten divorced when I met her. Dick ran off to Vegas and married her sister and dumped her with me for a weekend." The smirk returned. "You actually met her once. The elevator at the Grand. She would have been 12 and wearing your shirt." He smiled as a look of recognition passed over Veronica's face. "Anyways, her dad ran off and married some young floozy and then about 2 years later her mom decided to move to Vegas and start over there. She apparently didn't feel like starting over with a 14 year old in tow. Heather's mother tried to make her Dad take her, but he wasn't thrilled with that idea either. So I some how ended up volunteering to keep her until she turns 18." He laughed for a moment before he continued. "But realistically who would ever want to leave here?" He gestured around the room. "I'm sure I'll be stuck with her until she finishes college." He must have realized that came out a bit harsh and tried to recover quickly. "Don't get me wrong though, I adore her and she's usually a great kid."

Veronica had not expected any of that. _Dick married someone and Logan's a legal guardian? Why the hell had this never come up with Norris, Brandon or Mac? _Her mind was slowly trying to process all of that and finally realized Logan was staring at her with the annoyed expression back on his face.

"So what did you want _Veronica_?" Logan asked, crossing his arms across his chest and giving her a slight glare.

"Right…" she tried to focus again on the reason she had stopped by. _It wasn't to ogle his half naked body was it? No, no it was your case, stupid._ "I wanted to talk to you about why you didn't agree that what happened was an accident."

He took a deep breath and the annoyed expression became even harsher. "Because you're wrong." He said before the sound of the front door opening and closing cut him off.

"Logan?" a woman's voice called out, undoubtedly Bex based on the accent, unless he was also seeing other women with the same accent.

"In the kitchen, Bex," he called out.

The leggy blonde appeared a moment later and looked less than pleased to see Veronica standing there, although maybe that wasn't the only thing that she was unhappy about. "I thought we were going to dinner?" she asked Logan with an annoyed look on her face. She crossed her arms in front of her and gave him a disapproving scowl.

"Sorry baby," Logan said walking over to her "I just needed a swim after work and then _Deputy Mars_ stopped by." He reached out like he was going to wrap his arms around her, but before he could she uncrossed her arms and shoved him away.

"You're wet." She glared at him. "Don't you dare get me wet before we go to dinner."

Logan laughed and shook his head. "Don't worry sweetheart, I'll wait to get you plenty wet when we're done."

Veronica tried not to gag out loud, while Bex shook her head and giggled at him. _I guess arrogant asshole really was on the call sheet for today._ Logan leaned in and kissed Bex on the lips without touching her with the rest of his body.

Logan turned to Veronica and his annoyed glare returned. "We can talk on Monday. I'm off duty and going to dinner with my girlfriend. I'm sure you can find your way back to the front door right, _Deputy_?" The contempt from earlier had returned to his tone.

Veronica narrowed her eyes at him slightly. "Fine." She strutted back toward the front door, trying not to let either of them see that her dismissal had bothered her at all.

"Nice to see you again," Bex called out in a condescending tone right before the door closed behind her.

As Veronica drove back to her dad's house, she thought about how badly the day had ended up going. She realized she really didn't have anyone else to blame but herself and her single-minded desire to always know everything though. As she walked into the house, she found her dad just getting ready to head out for the evening. "Looking good, Pops," she teased as she waggled her eyebrows at him in a comical gesture.

"You sound surprised?" He joked back as he ran his hands down his dress shirt. "Keith Mars always looks impeccable." He looked a bit more closely at her and must have noticed something didn't seem quite right. "Tough day?" he finally asked her a bit suspiciously.

She shrugged. "You know… not everyone always plays nice with the new kid."

"Hmmm," he said almost knowingly. "Let me guess, Logan?"

She just shrugged again. "He doesn't agree with the call I made on the Donaldson case." _And he's furious at me for blackmailing his ex-BFF to uncover a secret that he was trying to keep from me._

He studied her for a moment before he replied. "Do you still agree with your call or are you having second thoughts now? It's okay to admit you missed something and to look at the case from a fresh angle, honey."

"I know. Leo agreed with the preliminary report Norris and I filed, but Logan sort of flew off the handle when he heard that we thought it was an accident. Apparently he's convinced otherwise, although he wasn't assigned to the case either."

"Was he not assigned to it because he was friends with Benjamin?" her dad asked as he went to the closet to retrieve his jacket. Veronica was a little surprised that her dad knew they had been friends, but it was a small town in some ways.

"Maybe… although he was also tied up with some big trial all week in LA," Veronica replied. All of a sudden she wished things were going better with Logan so she could have asked him why that wasn't going very well. She'd been wondering about it since Norris made that comment earlier to her.

"Ah…" he answered a bit absent-mindedly as he glanced down at his watch. "You gonna be okay tonight? Hanging with Mac or Wallace?"

Veronica shook her head. "No, Wallace has a late basketball game for the city league he's playing on and Mac has a date." Norris had mentioned that he convinced Mac to have dinner with him, even though they were spending the next day together at the Japanese exhibit at Hearst. "Wallace said I could come watch them play, but being in a hot, stuffy, smelly gym just didn't sound all that appealing." She put a fake smile on her face. "I'll be fine. Looking forward to a little _'me' _time." She gave him a little wink, "you know, fill the tub with bubble bath, drink a little wine, read a book."

He laughed and shook his head. "Well don't drown while I'm gone." He leaned toward her and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll probably be pretty late… or back in the morning." He gave her a little wink and she fake gagged. "Don't wait up. Oh, and Weevil has Backup tonight too so you're on your own here." And with that farewell he headed out the door with a little skip in his step that Veronica couldn't help but notice.

_All alone on a Friday night._ She let out a deep sigh and walked back to her room giving up for the day and changing into a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt. She reached into the closet and also grabbed a pair of fuzzy slippers. As she glanced at her self in the mirror on her way back out of her room she let out a sad sigh. She could totally hear Lilly chastising her. _So very unglamorous, Veronica Mars._ She knew Brandon had the late shift at the station and was on call early in the morning at Catalina, so hanging with him wasn't really an option tonight. Not to mention, she was really trying to avoid sending him any more mixed signals than she already had. And she still wasn't ready to deal with Sebastian again.

She headed back into the kitchen and started opening and closing cabinets and the refrigerator looking for something to make for dinner. She finally let out a defeated groan and went and grabbed a large bowl from the cupboard and opened the freezer and pulled out a container of ice cream. She reached for a banana on the counter and sliced it up. _At least if it has fruit it can't really be bad for me._ She glanced in the fridge and found a jar of maraschino cherries and put a couple on. _More fruit, much better._ She grabbed a can of Reddi Wip as she put the cherry jar back and topped it off with the whipped cream. Then noticed a big bottle of chocolate sauce and added a healthy serving of that around the outside of the bowl beyond the whipped cream.

She carried the bowl of ice cream to the other room, curled up on the couch and turned on the TV. She flipped aimlessly through channels until she finally stopped on a channel that was having a Magnum PI marathon. She chuckled to herself that this was what she was reduced to, eating ice cream for dinner by herself on a Friday night watching old 80's detective shows. At some point after the third episode and devouring almost a full bag of microwave popcorn after the ice cream, she fell asleep with her face smashed into a pillow at the end of the couch.

She was soundly sleeping when she heard a rapping on the window above her head. At first she attributed it to something just coming from the TV until it got a little louder and she sat up to see what it was. Logan was standing their staring at her with a smirk, clearly not contained at all, on his face. She'd had the popcorn bag by her on the couch and some of the popped pieces must have fallen out after she fell asleep and had gotten smooshed between her cheek and the pillow. She reached up to wipe the popcorn stuck to her face off and cursed silently to herself. Obviously since she was staring right at him through the window, she couldn't really just pretend she wasn't there. She let out a frustrated sigh and went over to open the door.

Logan looked her over from head to toe and chuckled slightly. "And here I was thinking you might be out on a hot date and not actually even home," he teased as he walked past her into the house.

He looked at the empty ice cream bowl smeared with some remains of the whipped cream and chocolate sauce that was still sitting on the table, as well as the popcorn bag that had fallen on the floor by the couch when she stood up and laughed again. "I see you had quite a nutritious evening snack there, Mars."

"For your information, the ice cream was for dinner," she grumbled under her breath as she went to retrieve the bowl and take it to the kitchen. "What do you want Logan? Shouldn't you be home getting your girlfriend all wet?"_ Fuck did I really just say that out loud? Stupid half-asleep brain! That was supposed to be internal dialog only._

He let out a loud laugh and followed her into the kitchen. "Yeah that was my plan originally until we had a huge fight at dinner and she took a cab back to retrieve her car."

"Oh, sorry," she said flatly, though she really wasn't.

"Yeah, I'm sure you are," he said abruptly. "I figured since you were so eager to talk to me earlier, I'd just stop by here on my way home."

She narrowed her eyes at him. She was still a little bitter from the way he'd acted at his house, as well as at the station. "What happened to _I'm off duty and don't want to talk to you until Monday_?"

He shrugged. "Heather apologized for being snippy with me and is sleeping over at her friend's house, so I figured I could go home to an empty house and seem like a total loser being there all alone on a Friday night, or come here." He gave her a bigger smirk, clearly implying she'd been here all alone on a Friday night and that if anyone in the room was a loser it was her.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Fine." She glanced at the fridge, then him. "Do you want a beer or something?"

"I wouldn't want your dad to be mad at me for drinking his beer." Logan replied matter-of-factly.

She let out a frustrated breath. "Not everything in this house is his." She reached in and pulled out a microbrew from a 6 pack that she'd picked up. "For your information, these are mine. Do you want one?" He shrugged then nodded. She grabbed a second one and handed it to him.

She walked over and sat at the counter island in the kitchen. He leaned up against the opposite counter and opened his beer, staying several feet away from her and not taking the seat that was next to her. He spotted the garbage can and walked even father away to toss the cap from his bottle into it.

"So why don't you think the drowning was accidental?" She asked getting right to the point. For some reason at this point, being home alone watching cheesy 80's detective shows sounded more appealing than having a smug Logan Echolls standing in her kitchen. _Although he does look very good in the snug fitting slacks and button down shirt he's wearing. Case Veronica, Case! _

"I read your report. Benji surfed with me. There's no way that a little wave would make him loose his balance to where he'd fall in and drown. He was also a better swimmer than I am."

"Bethany said she thought she heard a loud thump and that he must have hit his head. The autopsy confirmed the there were injuries to his head consistent with her story."

"What the hell would have been there for him to hit his head on?" Logan asked in an angry tone.

Veronica shrugged. "The side of the boat?" Although she knew he had a point. They hadn't been able to find any obvious evidence of where he may have hit his head when they looked at the boat.

Logan shook his head and let out a frustrated breath.

"She said she also thought that he'd taken some cold medicine earlier that might have made him groggy because he'd been complaining about not feeling well before they went to dinner. We did find a bottle of Nyquil on board the boat that had quite a bit missing from it."

"Yeah and that's bullshit too." Logan said in an even angrier voice. "Benji wouldn't have taken anything like that."

"How do you know that?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Bethany obviously didn't know her husband very well. What can you expect they'd only been married two months, but still..." Logan shook his head in a frustrated way before he continued. "He completed an AA program many years ago, so he never touched alcohol or drugs, even over the counter cold medicine."

Veronica raised an eyebrow at him. She was surprised that neither Bethany nor Dominick had mentioned AA to them and it hadn't come up in any of their research. "What if he just took it without thinking about it?" she asked, still thinking Benjamin may have actually taken it. Logan shook his head and gave her a look that clearly expressed that he defied her to challenge him on it.

"Bethany's tiny, even smaller than I am, you really think she was able to overtake him and hit him with something hard enough to kill him and knock him in the water?" Veronica asked next. She'd considered it, but it just didn't seem very probable looking at the petite woman. There was no way she'd be able to physically move him off the boat if something had happened below deck for sure.

Logan shook his head. "Bethany doesn't know shit about operating boats in the ocean. She grew up in Vegas. My guess is Bethany and Benji weren't the only ones on the boat that night, or she would never have gotten back to shore without calling the coast guard for help."

Veronica raised her eyebrow again, waiting for him to continue.

"I'd be willing to bet his 'friend' Dominick was out there too. And that Bethany and Dom have been hooking up even before she married Benji."

Veronica thought about it. Dominick seemed completely devastated by what had happened when they spoke with him, but he also seemed quite concerned about Bethany too, maybe more than just her being his friend's wife. "So that's your theory then?" She asked as she looked at him across the kitchen. He nodded. "Why didn't you tell Leo?"

He blew out a frustrated breath. "I was going to, but he probably would have told me I was taking it too personally and to let _you_ handle it. Plus I was in a pissed off mood already which only got worse when I saw that you and Norris had fucked it up so badly."

"Hey, you could have told me some of this beforehand instead of acting like a spoiled little 6 year old who was told he couldn't have ice cream for dessert," Veronica replied back defiantly.

"Or ice cream for dinner apparently," Logan replied with an angry smirk on his face.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes and then tried to regain her composure again. She knew he was just lashing out because he was mad about the case, as well as their earlier argument too. "We can keep investigating. Leo hasn't officially closed the case yet. All you had to do was talk to me like an adult Logan."

He laughed a bit angrily. "And you've always been so good about listening to what I have to say, haven't you?"

She so wanted to yell at him again, but didn't. She took a deep breath and counted to five before she spoke again. "So how do we prove it?"

"Oh, it's _we_ now?" He asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Logan," she responded with a frustrated edge to her voice. "Can we just try to work together like mature adults?"

"I'm the epitome of maturity," he replied before taking another sip of his beer.

"Right," she said sarcastically.

He eyed her with a curious expression. "So do you have plans tomorrow?"

She cocked her eyebrow at him and answered cautiously. "No, why?"

"I thought we'd take a little boating trip. Do you know how to scuba dive?" He asked as he studied her thoughtfully. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "Not an issue, I do and I'll just do all the underwater work and you can stay on the boat and make sure I don't get eaten by a shark or something."

"What are you talking about?" she asked with a confused expression on her face.

"I think we should go out to where they would have been anchored and see if they threw whatever they hit him on the head with overboard." Logan replied.

"And how do you know where that would be? Bethany said she didn't know where they had been." Veronica asked skeptically.

"Because Benji pretty much always went out to the same cove. He primarily went there because it was protected and didn't get many waves. Which is another reason I don't buy her story, although she's too dense to get that because like I said, she knows nothing about the ocean or boats." Logan finished off his beer and set the empty bottle on the counter.

"I'll pick you up at 9. Don't forget to pack a swimsuit and sunscreen." He smirked at her and headed for the front door. He didn't wait for an answer or a goodbye before he'd opened the door. Right before he stepped out and closed it, he called back over his shoulder. "And I'll be sure to get you plenty wet tomorrow."

She felt a completely embarrassed blush cross her face. She still couldn't believe she'd said that earlier and hoped he'd forgotten about it. _Obviously not._ She let out a deep breath, and then went back into the living room to turn off the TV before she headed to bed trying to forget the last thing he said before he closed the door. She was sure he had a completely different _wet_ in mind, but having him tease her about it was still cruel.


	23. Chapter 23

_**A/N – I know I'm out of synch on updating this instead of Rocky Shores, but at least Rocky Shores was in a nice place. I've started working on the next chapter for that, but it's still going to be a while until I get a chance to finish it and this one was calling to me more, so I ended up getting more work done on it. **_

_**Thanks again to everyone and a special thanks to those of you who take the time to leave reviews. I really do appreciate everyone and apologize that I didn't get a chance to reply to very many for the last chapter. I do read them all! And thanks to Bondopoulos too for her amazing beta work once again!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 23

Of course with Logan's parting shot before he left, and her emotions being all over the map, Veronica had some rather intense dreams once she finally fell asleep. Seeing him wet and half naked when she was at his house had likely also been a contributing factor to the types of dreams she ended up having about him that night. Unfortunately several of the dreams involved them angrily fighting with each other as well. She'd woken up from the angst-filled dreams hoping the next one she had would go back to the more erotic version, because she much preferred those.

It was almost 7am when she woke up and noticed there was light filtering in under the window blinds. _Two hours until he'll be here to get me._ Veronica pulled her covers up over her shoulders again and repositioned her pillow slightly so she was more comfortable. Her imagination, as usual, started running off on wild thoughts to make her have doubts about the day before it had even started. _What if he'd only stopped by here to buy some time last night to let Bex cool off and then ended up in bed with her after he left here? He'd only said they had a fight, not that they'd broken up._ Based on what Veronica had observed the first day that she'd met Bex, it was obvious that she and Logan had a habit of fighting and making up quickly. If Bex was leaving for Paris tomorrow, Veronica wondered if one of them would try to reconcile quickly again so they could spend their last day and night together. _Of course that's not really any of my business anyway, even if I do have some specific opinions on it, so it really shouldn't matter._ She finally climbed out of bed and headed for the shower, but by that point she'd convinced herself that Logan probably wouldn't even be showing up. Despite that, she still threw some extra clothes, including a swimming suit, into a bag so she would be ready if he did still come to get her.

She was finishing up the dishes from her "dinner" the night before, as well as a light breakfast that morning, when she noticed it was already five minutes after nine. Veronica glanced at her cell phone, wondering if he'd even have the decency to text her if he wasn't going to show up, or if he'd just blow it off given how angry he was with her the day before. She put the last bowl away and was closing the cabinet door when she heard the door bell ring. _Maybe he's not going to just blow me off after all._

She took a deep breath and headed to the door wondering what sort of mood he was going to be in. She really didn't want to deal with arrogant asshole Logan all day, but figured he had most likely acted like that the day before to piss her off. When Veronica opened the door, she found him standing there with a coffee in his hand and an uncertain look on his face. _Was he also wondering what sort of mood I was going to be in too or is something else going on?_

"For me?" she asked, eyeing the coffee that he was holding.

"It depends," he answered as he narrowed his eyes slightly at her. She waited patiently for the condition before reaching out for the cup. She could already smell the aroma and hoped he couldn't tell she was totally salivating to get her hands on it. She'd decided for some foolish reason not to bother with her dad's antiquated coffee machine that morning and was quickly regretting that decision now. _Must get him a new coffee machine to avoid dilemmas like this._

"Can we just focus on the case today and not our own fucked up personal baggage?" Logan asked with a fairly serious expression.

She bit back her first inclination, a sarcastic bitter response about not dealing with anything personal, and stared at the cup deciding what to say or do. _Don't antagonize him before we've even left, Veronica. You'll never get that delicious smelling coffee that way. Not to mention maybe we'll actually find something to help with the case if we go out to Catalina._ She couldn't really get a good read on his mood, but unfortunately, she was still a little mad about how he acted the day before, and "you're not trying to bribe an officer of the law are you?"slipped out before she could stop herself. His expression got a bit darker and he pulled the cup back. "I'm just kidding..." she quickly amended with the best smile she could manage. "Fine… I agree to your terms," she said a little reluctantly as she held out her hand for the cup.

He looked at her with a slightly apprehensive expression but then moved the cup back toward her.

"Thanks," she said with a smile as she took it and then reached down for her bag that she'd placed by the door. He still had a slightly uneasy expression on his face, as she walked past him on to the porch. She pulled the door shut, locking it behind her and then looked at him expectantly. He finally turned and walked toward his Range Rover that was parked in front of her Dad's house. She caught him walking toward the passenger door for a second before he must have thought about it and turned toward the driver side instead. She tried not to smirk, actually starting to enjoy this much more than she expected. Veronica really believed that when not aggravated, acting like an arrogant asshole would actually take work on Logan's part. She was certain that he wasn't really that guy anymore. Sure, if you provoked him with something or if he stewed about something for a while, his first reaction could be harsh, but once he had time to decompress, she didn't think getting riled back up was really that easy for him anymore. In addition, throwing Logan off his game had always been somewhat entertaining, and she couldn't help but notice he certainly seemed to be a bit off balance today for whatever reason.

She opened the passenger door and put her bag in on the floor in front of the seat. She saw him glance at it, and thought he was going to say something since she saw him actually open his mouth for a second before he turned his attention to starting the ignition. She would have guessed that he was going to suggest she could put it in the back so she'd have more room, but on second thought he hadn't. She couldn't help but wonder how long he'd be able to play arrogant, or just plain old indifferent, asshole since he really didn't seem to be up to it today at all. She also didn't think arrogant assholes would bring their ex-girlfriend her favorite coffee, even just as a bribe, either. Based on his request, he was obviously trying to avoid getting into another fight with her today by just staying away from those topics that they seemed to keep tripping over, but it was obvious he was far from being at ease now for whatever reason.

Logan had also picked up a coffee for himself, leaving it in the cup-holder as he'd gone up to her door, but he went back to drinking it as they drove. She debated about trying to strike up a conversation with him, but then thought maybe it would be better if they just peacefully made it to the boat without inadvertently getting into an argument again. If he wanted to avoid disagreements and touchy topics, she could at least oblige since he was helping with her case. Well she could at least oblige for a limited time anyway since she was still certain that they eventually needed to clear the air at some point. The drive from her dad's house to the yacht club was certainly the longest period of time they'd spent silently sitting next to each other that she could ever remember.

He finally pulled into a spot at the marina and gave her a quick look before climbing out of the car. He went to the back and opened the rear door, pulling out a duffle bag. "I just need to pick up a couple cylinders of air from the dive shop here. Do you want to wait for me down on the yacht, or go to the shop with me?"

_He finally speaks again and here I thought he might start doing a mime act or charades._ "Do you need help carrying one of them?"

He shook his head. "But if you could take my duffle bag down to the boat with you, that would help." She nodded and held out her hand for it. "Do you remember which slip?" She nodded again as she took the bag, slinging it over her shoulder that didn't have her own bag. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key ring. "This key will open the door to the cabin if you want to just put my bag in on the bed." She nodded as she took the key from him. He paused a moment, with an uncertain look on his face. "You can put your bag wherever you'd like."

"Got it," she said as she turned and headed down toward the yacht. She glanced in the direction of Todd's sailboat briefly and felt a tinge of anger about Sebastian and Elise pass through her again. She continued on and climbed the steps to Logan's yacht. The last time she was there certainly didn't turn out well either. While they still needed to work out their problems, maybe a day of just working on the case would be good too. If they could find some common ground to start from again, maybe that would help them start to rebuild what they seemed to have destroyed over the last week.

She opened the door that led into the bedroom. Just like the rest of the yacht, the room was very luxuriously appointed. There was a large king-size bed and built in cabinetry. She sat his duffle bag down on the bed. The bed he'd just spent several nights earlier that week sharing with Bex. Veronica thought it even still looked a bit messed up, which bothered her more than she wanted to admit. She shook her head and took her own bag back out to the living area, setting it at the end of a couch near the outer door before going back out to the main deck area. She sat down on the edge of one of the lounge chairs to wait for him, deciding that she certainly wasn't going to snoop around the boat given how angry he'd been with her for talking to Dick. She had carried her coffee down from the SUV with her and sat drinking it while she waited.

It took Logan at least fifteen minutes before he made it back to the yacht with the tanks. He looked a little surprised to find her just sitting there on the outer deck, but didn't comment on it. He went around to the side of the cabin to stash the tanks in a storage compartment before coming back and getting ready to leave. The silence had almost started to get a little unnerving, but she preferred it to arguing, so just watched him as he went about preparing the yacht to sail. "Can I help at all?" Veronica finally asked as he walked by her. He'd already started the engine and was beginning to untie the ropes.

"If you could get the rope in the back, that would be great," he said as he pointed toward the back of the boat. Veronica nodded and set her almost empty coffee cup down and headed toward where the rope was. She undid the knot and rolled the rope up as she'd watched Logan do to the one that was in the front. She turned back toward him when she was done and saw he was waiting by the upper controls for her to untie the rope and once the yacht was free of the dock, he started pulling away and sailing out toward the marina entrance that led to the ocean. She decided to go and sit up by him, so she could see where they were going better. They had to go slow through the marina, so the sound from the engine was low enough that they would be able to hear each other. He gave her a curious look as she took a seat on a stool next to his.

"What?" she asked as she gave him a questioning look.

"It's just a little disconcerting how un-Veronica-ish you've been this morning," he said as he glanced back and forth between both her and the direction he was heading.

"What exactly does that mean?" she asked as she raised one eyebrow.

He shrugged. "Quiet… complacent… non-questioning…"

"Oh… well I wasn't sure what I was allowed to discuss with you, so decided staying quiet was probably just the best course of action," she replied a bit more snippily than she'd intended.

He let out a frustrated breath. "I never meant that you couldn't talk at all… how about if you ask something I don't want to talk about you just drop it, no questions asked, and vice-versa of course."

"Okay," she replied as she gave him an understanding nod. Logan still looked somewhat uneasy, and she wasn't sure if it was because she was being so agreeable or if there was something else going on. She definitely liked him much better uncertain than furious with her. Maybe he had gotten over the worst of his anger by being an ass to her the day before and they could move past that now. She had to wonder though, how many more of those types of blow-ups they could survive if they couldn't get to the deeper issues they needed to address and what else might be going on with him now.

"Any idea what time you think we'll be back?" Veronica asked.

He shook his head. "If we find something quickly, we may not be gone long at all. I should be able to get almost two hours on the two tanks I have, but if we don't find anything, we can stop and get them refilled on Catalina." He paused and then gave her a sneer. "Why, do you have a date later?"

_Ah, there's a little of yesterday's Logan popping up for the first time today_. "No, do you have a date with your girlfriend later?" she asked, mimicking his tone back at him.

"No… and technically she's not my girlfriend now," Logan said as the sneer vanished and he focused his attention back on the water in front of him.

Deep down Veronica knew she should have just stopped there, but she couldn't quite make her self. "Are you sure? I believe you were mistaken about that when I first met her too."

She expected him to at least give her an angry glare, but instead she saw the side of his lip lift up in a small half-smile. "I'm sure," he said as he kept his gaze on the water and not her.

She wasn't quite sure how to interpret that reaction. He seemed almost amused by her question instead of annoyed, so she couldn't tell at all if he was actually upset that they had broken up. Veronica of course was happy about it for her own selfish reasons, but then she worried he might actually be upset about it and was just trying to keep it to himself. And what if it was just temporary again this time anyway? Sure, Bex was leaving for Paris the next day, or at least Veronica thought she still was, but that still left tonight for Bex to patch things up with him before she left. The part of her that was worried about how he was really taking it made her feel like she should say something supportive. "Maybe you'll work things out… if you want to that is."

He turned to look at her for a second with an almost perplexed expression on his face. "I'm sure we won't… and time for a topic change."

She nodded. _Well that's more personal than I expected him to get anyway._ "How about Benjamin? Is how you knew him a topic we're allowed to discuss?"

Logan nodded. "But maybe we can save it for when we get to the cove. I don't feel like yelling over the wind and the engines. You might want to hang on," he said with an evil grin as they passed the last of the buoys marking the no wake area outside of the marina. He at least gave Veronica a second to grab on to the edging by where she was sitting before he gunned the engines and they started flying across the water.

It was actually nice being out on the ocean again. She hadn't gone out boating since back when she was dating Logan before Trina inherited Aaron's boat and sold it. They had taken it out a few times over the summer between junior and senior year, before things had gotten out of hand with the PCHers and they'd broken up. She surreptitiously glanced over at Logan a few times. He'd put dark sunglasses on shortly after they'd left the marina, so it was hard for her to tell exactly what he was looking at, but he seemed pretty intently focused on just the ocean ahead of them. He didn't look much like someone who had just had their heart broken by a devastating break up, but Logan always was good at acting and hiding things when he wanted to. Veronica alternated between making furtive glances in his direction and watching the island getting closer to them. She'd also slipped on a pair of sunglasses after they'd got going, so she hoped he couldn't really tell what she was doing either. Although at this point, she didn't actually care if he did know she was studying him as they raced across the water.

It didn't take them long to reach the outskirts of the island, where Logan slowed the engines down a bit. She assumed he was trying to locate the right cove. She could tell he'd headed straight toward the docks at Avalon, and then turned north running parallel to the island for a little while. Veronica immediately thought back to the day with Norris and Brandon as she started to see similar sights and cursed silently to herself that she hadn't thought to pick up some motion sickness medicine. She really hoped that day was just an anomaly due to being hung over, but she also knew that sometimes people who didn't have motion sickness issues when they were younger could develop them later. She couldn't really help it, but the slower Logan went, the harder she started to grip the railing by where she was sitting, hoping she wasn't going to get sick once he stopped.

He must have finally located the spot he was looking for because he slowed down to where they pretty much stopped, with just the waves pushing them slightly. He cut the engine and pushed his sunglasses up to the top of his head as he glanced around the cove. Veronica was still gripping the railing, staring out at the island and starting to take almost panicked quick breaths now, though she really didn't mean to.

"Hey," she heard him say, causing her to look in his direction. "Are you okay? You look like you're going to rip the railing right off my boat."

She nodded reflexively and then shrugged. She wasn't feeling sick at the moment, but she hadn't felt that bad at first either the last time, not until she'd felt the rocking for a while. "I forgot that the last time I came out… with Norris and Brandon… I got really seasick."

"Ohhh…" he said, a look of sudden comprehension crossing his face. "You never used to, so I didn't even think about it. I think I have something in the cabin that might help with that… if you want to take it that is." The expression that crossed his face next was clearly one of concern and she wasn't sure if he was concerned about her potentially getting sick all over his fancy boat, or about the sensitive topic of her taking drugs because of what had happened in the past.

Veronica nodded and stood up to follow Logan. He shook his head at her. "You should just stay above deck in the fresh air if you think you might be getting seasick. It will help. After you take the medicine, you should be okay to go inside again, but for now, just stay put and I'll be right back." She gave him a small smile as she sat back on the seat she'd been in. She much preferred concerned attentive Logan to furious angry Logan from the day before, but she wasn't naïve enough to believe this change in behavior would be permanent. He was back a few minutes later with a prescription bottle and a bottle of Boylan ginger ale.

He gave her a grimaced expression as he held up the pills. "It's Bex's prescription, so if you're not cool with taking them, I understand…" he told her almost cautiously. "The ginger ale might help if you're starting to feel sick too."

She reached out and took the pill bottle from him. She knew she could trust Logan and at this point, she didn't think Bex would need these pills any time soon if she'd left them behind. She took a quick look at the directions on the label, opened it and took out one of the pills and then reached for the ginger ale. He opened the Boylan for her and she swallowed the pill along with some of the cold bubbly liquid. "Thanks," she said as she handed the prescription bottle back to him. He nodded and stuck the bottle into his pocket.

"I need to get the anchor set so we don't drift any farther," he said as he quickly turned and headed toward the lower level again. She figured she could at least go down to the lower level outer deck, since that's where she was sure he'd be getting ready to go dive from anyway. Veronica sat down on the lounge chair that she'd sat on earlier when she was waiting for him to get the air cylinders and watched as he got the anchor set.

"So Benjamin?" she prodded as he walked toward her again. He nodded and held up his hand in a just a minute gesture. He went back into the cabin again, to do who knows what, but then came back out just a few minutes later.

"I forgot I had this too… not sure if they really work, but you're welcome to try it," he said as he tossed a small box in her direction. She looked down and saw it was a Sea Band for nausea and motion sickness. She turned it over and read the instructions and decided it certainly wouldn't hurt to put it on. _He either really cares about me not feeling bad, or just doesn't want anything to happen to his boat._

He headed back toward the storage area that he'd put the scuba tanks in earlier and started pulling his gear out, lining up things on the deck. "I met Benji, not too long after you left for Stanford I guess... we started surfing together after meeting…" he paused and when he continued his expression was more somber. "…well not on the beach." He went back to the storage compartment again and she wondered if that was going to be the end of the story based on his tone right before he walked off. It was more than obvious that he didn't want to share the story of how he met Benji, and she wasn't going to push him about it. _See I can change. Here's me totally seeing one of your secrets and choosing to let it go._ Of course based on his inflection and what she now knew about Benji, she wondered if it had to do with Benji's being in AA and if Logan had met him that way. She knew Logan was still drinking alcohol, but maybe it had more to do with the drugs that he'd been messed up with earlier instead. Whether or not she was right, she told herself that she was more than happy to let it go and not pry into it. Like Leo had told her, digging up his old issues, especially those, probably wasn't going to help anything.

Logan appeared a minute later with more gear and sat those things down as well. "We would hang out together sometimes besides just surfing… he'd invite me and Heather over for dinner every once in a while and we got along really well. He was pretty busy with his work, but he'd still help me out with Heather if he could, especially when she was younger and I had to take some of the night shifts at the station." Veronica nodded as she listened and watched him getting things ready for his dive.

"I also knew Bethany," he said with his expression become much darker. "I guess I met her a few months before I met Bex." _Of course… petite blonde… why didn't I wonder about that before?_ "We went out a few times, but it was extremely easy to figure out that she was only interested in my money and potential connections from being an Echolls." A disgusted look crossed his face, and she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. "I tried to warn Benji, but he didn't listen to me. She could be extremely… _convincing_ when she wanted to be, but I saw right through it."

"So you think she killed him for the inheritance he left her?" While she wouldn't have gotten his entire estate, it was certainly more than she would have gotten if they had divorced later based on the pre-nup.

Logan's expression became even more troubled. She'd noticed he was getting visibly angrier about the situation the more he talked about it. "My guess is that she got Dom to do it. I never really liked Dominick either… he went to college with Benji, though they weren't that good of friends then. It was only in the last year or so that they started hanging out. I think they may have been in the same fraternity or something…" Veronica nodded. She had looked a bit into Dominick and had found that they were fraternity brothers, though Benjamin was a year ahead of Dominick. She didn't get a great feeling about the guy either, so wasn't surprised that Logan wasn't a fan of his. "And from what I know about Bethany… well I wouldn't put it past her to have done it in such a way that she could claim Dom completely acted on his own and just _misinterpreted _her feelings forhim." Bethany had been such a mess every time they'd tried to talk to her, that Veronica would never have pegged her for being such a manipulator, but she trusted Logan's gut feeling about it, and maybe being a mess was really all part of Bethany's elaborate act.

"I don't think I said this before, but I really am sorry about his death Logan. He sounds like he was a good friend to you and… well you don't deserve to lose as many people as you have," she said somberly.

The anger that had been there as he'd talked more about Bethany and Dominick momentarily left and she saw a look of sadness cross his face, before he nodded and put a neutral facade back in place. "I think I have everything ready that I need… just need to change," he said as he quickly spun back toward the cabin. He disappeared for almost ten minutes before he came back out with his wetsuit on up to his waist, but still had the top undone and hanging around his hips. She didn't think he was doing it to torment her, but seeing his naked chest and abs again certainly made her lose her focus.

"How are you feeling now?" he asked as he gave her a concerned look.

She'd been so focused on his story about Benjamin and now on his muscular upper body that she almost wasn't sure what he was even talking about. "Oh… actually okay so far."

Logan nodded. "Well this cove is pretty well protected like I said. Was it rougher where you were with Brandon and Norris?" She nodded in response. "There are some areas around the island that can get pretty rough. That could have been what brought it on last time."

She nodded and then let out an audible sigh. "I may also have been pretty hung over that morning," she sheepishly admitted. _Maybe if I'm willing to be more honest with him, he'll notice and feel like he can be honest with me again too._

A small smirk started to form on his lips before he spoke again. "Yeah… that can do it too. Good thing you didn't get wasted last night… unless you went on a big bender after I left and finished off the rest of your six pack?" He narrowed his eyes at her before he continued. "Is that really why you were so quiet this morning… hangover headache again?" he asked with a devious smirk.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. He chuckled softly and then let out a frustrated sigh. "Do you think you can help me get my top half on? My ribs are better, but not 100% yet, and I started to put it the rest of the way on inside and decided that I didn't want to do any more damage than I already have."

_Oh great, like helping him into his wet suit isn't going to be torturous._ "Sure," Veronica replied with a grim smile and stood up so she could help him. It was just one side that he really needed help with and then zipping up the back, since reaching over his head to get the zipper pull was pretty much out of the question unless he wanted to be in pain.

"Are you sure you're okay to go diving by yourself… like that?" she asked with a concerned expression. He nodded and started getting the rest of his gear ready to go.

"You know how to work the radio right?" he asked once he was about ready to jump into the water. She nodded but gave him a concerned look. "If anything happens… and you know there's a problem… call the coast guard. Don't get in the water and don't try to drive the boat yourself… got it?" Her look became even more worried as he said that. "I'm sure it will be fine Veronica… but I just want to be sure you understand, okay… just in case."

"How will I know…" she started to ask, and then saw his expression change to a 'you'll know' look. She nodded. _You've seen Jaws and a half dozen other horribly made shark movies. I'm sure you'll know the signs, Veronica._ She swallowed hard trying to push those thoughts out of her head.

"Hey… don't worry about it okay. I sprayed on my shark repellant this morning… you know they hate the smell of Dolce &amp; Gabbana Desert Oud," he said with a smirk. Veronica let out a huff and rolled her eyes at him. He walked over to the edge and got ready to jump in. "I also hear they hate the taste of arrogant asshole," he said with a wink before he flipped over the edge and she heard a splash as he hit the water.

She got up and moved closer to the side he'd gone over so she could actually watch the water better. She realized what he was doing down there was probably just as hopeless as looking for a needle in a haystack, but she wasn't about to tell him that. She of course was more than familiar with feeling the need to try to get justice for a friend who was murdered. This could just be his way of grieving over the loss of his friend, and it really wasn't that different than her trying to prove who'd really killed Lilly. And definitely at some points, that felt as hopeless as looking for a murder weapon in the bottom of a giant cove.

Left all alone on a boat, just staring at the water and trying not to think about every horrible shark movie she'd ever watched, certainly got old quickly. Veronica didn't really want to leave her spot either, which she knew was sort of ridiculous because she didn't know how far from the boat he'd gone or even which direction. The water was too deep to see him so she just randomly glanced around the cove. She wondered how serious his warning was before he'd gone in. She had heard of shark attacks around the island occasionally, but thought it was pretty rare. She didn't think he was actually trying to freak her out, but was just being serious in case something did happen. She kept glancing at her phone, and after 30 minutes decided to listen to some music instead of just listening to the sounds of the waves hitting the sides of the boat and the distant sound of other boats and birds. She put in the earbuds she'd brought along and went back to impatiently waiting for Logan to return, although she did keep the music low enough that if there was a loud commotion she'd be able to hear it in case she wasn't looking in the right direction. The closer it got to being an hour since Logan had left, the more anxious Veronica became. He'd said he would be able to do _about_ two hours with the two tanks, but she didn't know if 'about' meant more or less and when she should start worrying about whether something had gone wrong. She was leaning a bit over the railing trying to peer into the water, even though she realized that was sort of pointless since she didn't even know where she should be looking when she was scared to death by a pair of wet hands grabbing her waist and pushing her forward slightly. She of course screamed loudly and spun around quickly, almost taking a swing at a deviously grinning Logan.

"Were you actually going to try to throw me in?" she asked incredulously as she regained her balance.

"Well I did promise to get you wet," Logan replied with a smug grin.

She rolled her eyes and gave him an angry glare. He chuckled and started taking his gear off. "Any luck?" she asked, pretty much knowing the answer based on how long he'd stayed down.

Logan shook his head and gave her a frustrated look. "Not yet." He glanced around the deck as he continued working on his gear and then scowled at her. "Did you stay out here the entire time? You know you could have gone inside… You're nose is starting to burn already. Didn't you put sunscreen on?"

Veronica couldn't help but laugh at him. "Sorry _mom_… and I did put some on, but I guess I need some more."

Now he rolled his eyes and shook his head at her. "Whatever… but don't bitch to me when you're in pain later… and I remember how much of a whiner you can be…"

"Yeah… I think you're remembering _you_ whining not me," she said as she started to walk back toward the cabin. Veronica sifted through her bag and found her sunscreen and rubbed some more on her face.

He appeared in the doorway a minute later with an almost sheepish look on his face. "Do you mind?" he asked, turning and looking over his shoulder at her.

"Oh, so now you need my help? Which one of us whines more?" she asked with a smug grin on her face.

"Fine," he said as he walked past her into the kitchen, water dripping slightly off his wetsuit. He opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, and then turned and went back out on the deck.

She chuckled and wandered outside again. He was leaning against the rail swigging the water down quickly.

"Turn around," she said as she gave him a sly smile.

"So demanding," he replied with a cocky smirk before he turned and she pulled down the zipper for him. "Thanks," he said as he spun back around and then pulled down on the top with a slight grimace.

"Are you sure you didn't actually break a rib?" she asked looking at his faintly bruised side with concern. She so wanted to reach out and run her hands over his chest and stomach. _Just to make sure nothing was broken, of course._

"Yeah… I don't think so anyway…" he said as he gave her a half smile and then walked past her to stretch out on one of the lounge chairs.

"Are you going back out?" she asked as she wandered over and took a seat across from him on one of the other lounge chairs. Logan nodded and took the last sip from his water bottle. He started to move off the chair, she assumed to go and get another bottle.

"Need another?" she asked as she reached her hand out toward the bottle.

He gave her a skeptical look and quirked a brow at her. "Is it gonna cost me?"

She couldn't help but smirk in reply. "Of course it is," she said as she grabbed the bottle and stood up. He gave her an amused smile while he watched her begin to walk back inside. _This is going better than I expected. Of course we are totally avoiding discussing anything of real importance but this is one hundred percent better than where we were yesterday._

"You can grab one for yourself if you want," he yelled from outside as she was opening the fridge. She smirked as she saw her favorite soda in the fridge too. _Yeah, such an arrogant asshole who not only brought me my favorite coffee, but also bought my favorite soda. Why does he have to be so stubborn sometimes?_ She grabbed two bottles of water and headed back outside. She really wanted to ask about the trial he'd been in LA for, but if Norris was right and that wasn't going well, then that might put him back in a bad mood again. She was enjoying the light bantering and relaxed mood that they both seemed to be in currently.

Veronica held the water bottle out toward him and he eyed her suspiciously. "What's the cost?" he asked before he reached for it.

She hadn't actually thought of anything to ask for when she went to get it since she'd been thinking about other things. She thought about it for a few seconds before she finally spoke. "Promise you'll keep from getting mad today, even if I ask something that pisses you off."

"That's a pretty big price for just a bottle of water…" he replied as he looked at her solemnly. "Just today?"

"Sure… this bottle…" she shook the bottle slightly. "… for just today."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you already have a list of questions prepared that you're planning to ask that you think are going to piss me off? Because I've got to say, if there's like 50 questions on that list, I don't think I'm getting a very good deal here at all."

Veronica reached into her shirt, much like she'd done to Dick at alterna-prom and pretended to pull out an invisible list. "Nope, only 25…" she replied with a smirk.

"Oh, so much better," he said with a smug grin as he reached out for the water bottle.

"So what's the first question?" he asked as he screwed the cap off and then took a drink.

"How'd the trial go in LA?"

"I take it Norris mentioned it wasn't going well?" he asked with a raised brow.

She nodded. "He didn't elaborate though and I didn't ask."

A small grin crossed Logan's face. "You didn't ask? How very unlike you."

"I'm just full of surprises," she replied with a smirk.

Logan nodded in reply. "Yeah…" He seemed a bit uneasy again, but she wasn't sure why. "Well… it wasn't going very well…" He took another long drink of water before he spoke again with a concerned expression on his face. "Can we leave it at that? The subject matter might be… personally sensitive."

"Oh…" she said giving him an understanding grimaced expression. "It's fine, you can tell me about it."

He gave her a skeptical look before he continued. "A serial rapist… although he of course claims they were all consensual… would pick up young women at various clubs… convince them to do some E with him, but he would give them something stronger, then rape them."

She felt some bile in her throat and swallowed it down. "I'm sorry it's not going well then," she said with a grim tone.

He let out a deep breath. "Me too…" he said as he stared down at the water bottle in his hand with a troubled expression on his face.

_Don't go there now. You agreed to focus on the case and not our own problems. He warned you that you may not want to know_. "So is raising a teenage girl a lot of fun, _Freckles_?" she asked, hoping to lighten the mood again and stick to their earlier agreement.

He let out a soft laugh and nodded. She could easily see he was relieved for the change in topic. He spent the next thirty minutes or so telling her all about Heather. What she was interested in at school and some of the challenges he'd had to figure out how to deal with. He had a part time housekeeper who would also help him with her when he wasn't able to be there all the time. He also told her that Heather's older sister would take her sometimes, so she wasn't always at Logan's house. She couldn't help but laugh as he told her about Heather's first real date and how he made sure he was in his Sheriff's uniform, complete with side arm, when the guy showed up. When he was done, Logan decided that he'd had a long enough break and got ready to go back in the water again.

"You know there's satellite TV inside, so you don't have to sit out here this time if you don't want to," he said as he was finishing up with his gear. "You're free to roam around the boat if you want to."

"Okay…" she replied with a shrug, though she doubted she'd actually go inside where she wouldn't be able to keep an eye out for trouble. He nodded and gave her a little half wave before he jumped back into the dark blue water again.


	24. Chapter 24

_**A/N – I'm expecting to stay pretty busy the rest of this month, so updates may get a little slower for a while. Thanks again to everyone for reading and a special thanks to those of you who take the time to leave reviews. I really do appreciate everyone and I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to reply to very many for the last chapter again. I do read them all and they keep me motivated to keep writing when I get a chance to! And a heartfelt thank you to Bondopoulos for her amazing beta work yet again!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 24

Logan's second hour wasn't any more successful than his first, so he pulled up the anchor after getting out of his gear and wetsuit so they could go to Catalina for more air. He also suggested they pick up something for lunch that they could take back to the boat to eat. He dropped the tanks off at a dive shop and told the guy working that they'd be back for them after they grabbed something to eat. The guy at the shop highly recommended the café across the street, so Logan and Veronica walked over to get something from there. As they were walking out of the café with their food, they spotted Brandon and Carmen walking up the sidewalk in their direction. Brandon had his arm wrapped around Carmen's shoulder and they were laughing about whatever they had been discussing. It was apparent that things had progressed quite a bit since Veronica last saw them on Thursday night.

"Hey… didn't expect to run into you two," Brandon said as he removed his arm and reached out his hand to shake Logan's while he gave Veronica a tentative smile. Carmen and Veronica also exchanged quick friendly hellos as the guys shook hands.

"Sorry I couldn't come out and help since I'm on call today. How's the search going?" Brandon asked as he dropped Logan's hand and took a step back.

"Yeah…" Logan replied looking very surprised and not at all happy to see Brandon and Carmen there together. "I haven't found anything yet, but I'm going to try for another couple hours before calling it quits." Veronica couldn't help but notice Logan's tone also had a note of irritation to it.

"Well hopefully you'll find something. I'm off tomorrow if you want to try again," Brandon offered. Logan shrugged in response.

"We should get going, I'm at the short term docking area," Logan said as he started to move in the direction of the dive shop.

"Okay… well good luck," Brandon replied, although it was obvious to Veronica that Brandon seemed as puzzled by Logan's reaction as she was.

"Thanks…" Logan said as he glanced toward Veronica, who hadn't moved at all and was certainly perplexed by their interaction.

"I'll just wait out here while you get the tanks," she told Logan. He didn't seem thrilled by that either, but turned and headed into the shop by himself.

"Do you want me to grab us a table?" Carmen asked Brandon with a warm smile.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll just be a couple minutes."

"Sure, no problem. It was nice to see you again Veronica," she said as she gave her a little wave and headed into the café that Veronica and Logan had just come out of.

"Everything going okay?" Brandon asked Veronica. His expression was slightly worried as he glanced past her toward the dive shop. Veronica nodded slowly and gave him a puzzled look that he must have correctly interpreted. "I heard things were a bit tense yesterday between you and Logan and I didn't think it was probably a great idea to go out alone on a boat together, but he seemed pretty set on the idea."

"When did you talk to him?" Veronica asked, trying to piece together what she'd missed that might explain Logan's change in demeanor.

"Last night… He stopped by the station to borrow a dive light to use today." She'd seen the dive light in the storage compartment when Logan had first brought the tanks on board. That meant he'd either been on the boat the night before, or earlier that morning before he picked her up. She had wondered earlier when he'd actually bought the soda that was on the boat as well.

"Oh… yeah, it's been fine. Much better today than yesterday at least. I guess we struck up a bit of a truce this morning. No idea how long it will last, but at least through today I would guess. He has a vested interest in the case too of course." She couldn't help but wonder now how much of Logan's change in behavior from the day before to now could be attributed to him talking to Brandon. She also wondered what exactly Brandon might have said to him.

Brandon nodded in understanding. He glanced at the dive shop again as the door opened and closed a bit loudly. "Well I better let you go," he said as he gestured in the direction of the shop. She turned to follow his gaze and saw Logan standing there. He still looked irritated about something and, she assumed, was waiting for her to join him across the street.

"Is everything okay with the two of you?" she asked with a questioning look as she turned back to Brandon and rocked her head slightly in Logan's direction.

"Um…" Brandon glanced passed her for a minute at Logan and then back at her. "I thought so… but he's clearly not exactly happy about something." Brandon sounded slightly concerned as he spoke. "I didn't think he was mad at me last night though."

"Yeah… well I guess he's just got a lot of things going on right now…" She really wasn't sure what else to say about it, but Brandon nodded in understanding. She wondered if they had also talked about Logan's break up with Bex. "Well have fun with Carmen," she said with a little wink and a sly smile before she turned away from him to walk back toward Logan.

The walk back to the yacht was eerily quiet again as Veronica was waiting for Logan to say something, but he never did. He stashed the tanks in the storage compartment again, while she put the food on the counter inside. There was a dockhand who had helped them tie the yacht up when they arrived, and he helped them untie as well. Veronica had barely come back out from the cabin when the boat pulled away from the dock. She knew that the plan was to go back to the cove and anchor again before they ate, and then Logan would try diving again a little while after that. She decided to give him some space and stretched out on one of the lounge chairs on the main deck, enjoying the sun and mild breeze as they headed back toward the cove.

Logan killed the engine when they arrived and came down to drop the anchor again. Veronica couldn't quite figure out why he was so upset since they'd run into Brandon and Carmen since his mood certainly changed after that. It didn't make a lot of sense to her as to why he would care about it, unless Carmen and Logan were actually more than just friends. She hadn't considered that possibility before, but now she couldn't help but wonder. She finally decided just to ask, because he was obviously upset about something and wasn't talking at all.

"Are you mad about seeing Carmen and Brandon together?" she asked as she stood up and walked over to where he was tying off the anchor.

"A little… aren't you?" he asked, his expression slightly incredulous.

She shook her head slowly and gave him a questioning look. "No… I didn't realize that you and she were… well more than just acquaintances…"

He narrowed his eyes at her for a second. "Wait… what?" he asked, a puzzled look starting to form on his face. "We're what?"

Veronica tilted her head and studied him a little more closely. She arched up an eyebrow. "I don't know… friends with benefits… exes… you tell me?"

"Whoa… no, no, no… Carmen and I just work together… we aren't…" He shook his head. "Why would you think that?"

She shrugged and looked at him in confusion again. "Then why do you care that they were together?"

"Because of you… and him…" Logan said, clearly more confused than she even was.

"Oh," she said with a small chuckle. "No… we're not… I actually sort of set them up."

"What?" he asked seeming to be totally confused now based on his expression. "But I thought…" He paused another moment obviously trying to process everything. "Brandon totally railed into me last night for being such an ass to you and not taking your feelings into account at all… I thought…" Logan ran his fingers nervously through his hair, clearly having a hard time figuring out what was really going on now. _So that's why he was acting strangely this morning. And why does he keep trying to push me at Brandon, even now that he's split up with Bex? He seemed jealous when he saw us together on Monday and now he's upset that Brandon's with Carmen? I just don't understand what he's thinking at all._

"Brandon's been a great friend, Logan," Veronica said as she looked at him intently. "But I'm not interested in him as more than that, and he really seemed to click with Carmen the other night at bowling." _But Brandon did make a very good point._ She narrowed her eyes slightly at Logan before she continued, her voice taking on a slightly more annoyed tone. "And you _should_ have taken my feelings into account," she added before she turned and headed back into the cabin. She knew if she stayed out there with him that she'd probably say something that would cause the tension to escalate, and she'd told herself that she wouldn't do that today. At least not while they were trying to work together on this case, but she was certainly getting frustrated with his completely mixed messages. One minute looking insanely jealous when he saw her with Brandon, and then the next upset that Brandon was with someone else. She'd left the door to the cabin open, so she knew he could hear her from outside. "Do you want to eat inside or out?" she yelled out to him, trying to move on from feeling frustrated with him.

He appeared in the doorway and leaned against the frame. "Whatever you want is fine," he said balefully as he stared down at the ground.

She didn't mean to but a small laugh escaped and then she sort of lost her composure. "What I want? ...you know what I really want is for you to just talk to me Logan. To stop playing your fucking games and be honest with me." She stopped quickly and took a deep breath. "But eating outside sounds _great_ too." She grabbed the bag of food and started back to the door.

"Veronica…" he started to say in a regretful tone when she was almost to him.

"No… it's fine… you don't have to say anything… _you_ didn't want to talk about our fucked up personal issues today, and I agreed. Let's just eat lunch… you do your dive and then take me back," she said in a very cold terse tone.

She watched him clench his jaw and take a deep breath as she continued past him toward a small built-in table on the outer deck. She started taking the containers of food out of the bag, finding the ones that were hers and then sat down in a seat with her back toward the cabin still. She finally let out a shaky breath. _Way to ruin a mostly peaceful day, Veronica. He was genuinely concerned about your feelings for Brandon and how you'd feel seeing him with Carmen, and then you bite his head off. And why did you get so mad anyway? _Of course she quickly knew one of the reasons. _Because it seemed like it was basically him yet again pushing me away from him and toward Brandon, even now that Bex may be out of the picture. Because you were holding on to the idea that if Bex was gone and we reconciled our difference again, that maybe that would lead to something more._

She finally heard his footsteps come up from behind her and then he set a glass of soda down in front of her before he shifted over and took one of the other seats. He more or less slumped into the chair and just stared at the table in front of him. "I'm not sure what you want from me Veronica… I'm not intentionally playing games with you though," he said in a defeated tone as he continued to just stare at the table, avoiding eye contact with her. When she didn't say anything for a minute or so, he finally looked over at her.

"Okay," she replied and nodded. _Maybe he doesn't realize exactly everything that he's doing. Maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt that part of it is unintentional. _ "Why are you so intent on pushing me at Brandon?" she asked in a very calm tone.

He shrugged and looked down at the table again. _And this is how I know he's about to lie._ "I thought he seemed like someone you would get along well with and he's a genuinely good guy." _That might all be true, but that's not the only reason he's doing it. Not to mention we're back to him thinking he's a bad guy, which I just don't understand at all. Why is he being so hard on himself?_

"You're a genuinely good guy too, Logan," she said as she stared at him. He glanced up at her and shook his head.

"No I'm not Veronica… you talked to Dick… I'm sure he told you that I wanted to kill him… that I threatened to kill him… that I said I wished he had dived off that roof too… I'm really no better than Aaron… Like father like son… I just hide it a lot better." He let out a bitter laugh. "Although if it wasn't for you… well, I guess he hid it pretty well too."

Veronica tried not to let her eyes fill up with tears. She absolutely hated hearing him compare himself to Aaron, let alone actually _believing_ that they were anything alike. Even through all the ugliness of their past, she never remembered him ever comparing himself to Aaron or believing he was like him, not like that. "No you aren't… you're nothing like him… you were angry and hurt… but you didn't kill anyone."

He let out a deep frustrated breath. "I wanted to so badly at that moment though… If I hadn't been starting to crash off of whatever shit I'd taken with Sean, I swear I would have dragged him to the roof and thrown him off… so that doesn't really make me any better than Aaron was… I practically beat Dick to death anyway… and then…" he paused and shook his head, a devastated expression forming on his face. "I knew how bad I'd hurt him, and I just left Veronica… I walked out and left him there to die and didn't even care… I seriously expected to come back and find him dead in the suite, so yeah… I'm just as fucked up as dear old dad." He brought his hands up, resting his elbows on the table, and then he put his face against his hands. She heard him let out a deep shaky breath.

Veronica swallowed hard again, trying not to cry. She stood up and walked over so she could sit on the arm of his chair and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her forehead against the side of his head. "You're nothing like Aaron, Logan… What happened with Dick was terrible, but there were legitimate reasons why you felt the way you did…" she said in a soft soothing voice. "You're a great cop… you take good care of Heather… you help people who can't help themselves… I've only been back a little while, but I can see that you're absolutely nothing like Aaron, and I can't understand why you won't let yourself believe it."

She felt him shake his head slightly before he whispered a faint, '_I don't know_'. She couldn't really tell if that was just him avoiding the truth again, or if he really didn't know. Leo's words from the day before came back to her again. _Help him realize he's a good person in the present, don't dig into the past._

"Well I believe in you, Logan," she said tenderly. "I _know_ you're a good guy. And I hope in time you can let yourself believe it too." She felt him nod slightly, but he didn't say anything.

She really was starving now, because it had been hours since she'd had anything to eat, and of course her stomach picked that time to rumble loudly. Logan let out a soft huff of air that almost sounded like a laugh. "You'd better feed it, before it forcibly tries to escape and takes me down too."

She laughed and took in a deep breath. He used to always tease her about having an alien in her belly with the amount she'd eat and the sounds her stomach would make when she was hungry. "Who would the sharks have to eat after lunch if that happened…" she joked back before quickly placing a soft kiss on the side of his head and removing her arms to retreat back around to her seat. When she was still slightly behind him, she wiped at the few tears that had started to form in her eyes before she sat down.

"Thanks for the soda," she said as she picked up her glass to take a drink. He nodded and reached for the container that had his lunch in it. She couldn't help but notice he still seemed to be avoiding her gaze. The dark expression returned to his face while he poked at his food. "What's it like down there?" she asked after swallowing a bite of her food, hoping to get his mind back to something else.

He gave her a confused look for a second and she pointed out toward the water. "Oh… lots of rocks… seaweed… fish… you know… the bottom of the ocean." He shrugged and thought about it a little more. "I did see a couple wolf eels and a couple small leopard sharks." Her eyes got a little bit bigger at the eels and sharks comment. "You should try it some day… I'll teach you how to do it sometime if you want."

"Maybe…" she said with a half smile.

"It's getting pretty hot out now… do you want to swim for a little while after we eat? I probably shouldn't go straight down anyway," he asked with a hopeful expression. She gave him a slightly concerned look thinking about the eels and sharks comment he'd just made. He must have clearly been able to read her expression. "The eels and sharks are at the bottom… they won't bother you if you're just swimming around on the top."

"Okay," she replied with a bigger smile after a few seconds. "Yeah… that would be nice."

They finished up eating and Veronica grabbed her bag to change and headed into the bedroom. She may have subconsciously, _or on purpose_, grabbed the sexiest swimsuit that she owned. As she caught her reflection in the mirror she sort of had second thoughts about it now, but it was a little too late. She grabbed a t-shirt from her bag and threw it on over the suit before she walked back out. Logan was out on the deck waiting for her to return. He'd put on board shorts after he was done diving, so he didn't need to go into the bedroom to change again.

"You'd better put more sunscreen on before you get in the water," he warned as she walked out on deck. He was rubbing some on his legs, arms and chest. "I'll do your back if you'll do mine?" he said with a snarky smile as he held the bottle out to her.

_Sure, this isn't going to be awkward_. _Zipping up wetsuits, and smearing lotion all over his hot toned body… not awkward at all._ She walked toward him and nodded taking the bottle and pouring a generous amount out on her hands before rubbing it all over his back and shoulders. _Breathe Veronica…_

"Okay, you're good," she finally said and took a step away from him. _Yeah, that's not going to do any good for those dreams I keep having._

"Thanks," he said as he turned toward her. "Shirt off," he said as he picked up the bottle and waited for her to pull her shirt off.

"Right…" she said hesitantly as she pulled the shirt up over her head. When she got the shirt off she looked up at him and saw that his eyes were a bit larger and darker as he stared down at her.

"Back…" he said, his tone sounding a bit unsteady. She nodded and turned, a small smile ghosting across her lips as she reached back and pulled her hair up off her shoulders. She'd grabbed a hair band from her bag and had it around her wrist and used it to tie her hair up in a messy twist. She felt the cool lotion against her skin and then his heavy warm hands smearing it around. She closed her eyes, but tried really hard not to take a deep sensual breath. _Okay… absolutely not going to help with those dreams I keep having._

Unfortunately the contact didn't last as long as she would have liked, and suddenly his warm fingers were gone. "Don't forget to do your legs, arms and front too," he said as he handed the bottle over her shoulder to her.

"Thanks," she said as she took it.

"I'll meet you in the water," he said quickly and the next thing she knew, she heard a splash as he dove off the side of the boat into the water. She chuckled softly to herself. _Well that was a speedy retreat wasn't it?_

She quickly put sunscreen on the rest of herself and then went over to the edge of the boat. She watched as Logan lazily floated in the water just a little ways from the boat. "Are you getting in or what? You're not having second thoughts are you?" he taunted her from the water. She bit on her lip lightly. She couldn't help but wonder how bothered he actually was watching her in her bikini given that he was awfully eager to get her into the water where it would be harder to actually see her.

She hopped up on the edge of the boat and started walking back and forth considering whether to jump in or not.

"If you don't get in, I'm going to come over and throw you in," he warned from the water.

She laughed and shook her head. "You wouldn't dare."

He gave her a determined look and nodded, then dove under the water and started swimming quickly back to the boat. She laughed and waited until he was almost to the boat before she jumped in, landing a little ways behind where he was. The water was colder than she'd expected, but since it had gotten pretty hot out, it felt very refreshing. She could see why he was anxious to get in and cool himself off after the look he had on his face while helping her with the sunscreen.

He stopped when he reached the side of the boat and gave her a playful smile. "And here I was looking forward to throwing you in."

"Sorry," she said in a sing-song reply as she floated lazily in the water now herself.

He shook his head and climbed back into the boat, giving her a dangerous smile before he jumped high in her direction and pulled his legs in so he could make a huge cannonball splash. She couldn't help but laugh at him and shoved him when he popped back up near her. They splashed around for a little while before he said he should probably get ready to dive again and swam back to the boat and climbed out of the water. She followed a little ways behind him and then climbed up on deck herself. He tossed a big fluffy towel at her, catching her slightly by surprise.

"You should cover up… you don't want to get sunburned and the sunscreen only lasts so long in the water," he said as he turned to start getting his dive gear out again. A small smirk spread across her lips. _Sure… sunburn… I saw that leering look earlier Echolls and I don't think that's the only thing you're worried about. _She just couldn't help herself and dried off, but then grabbed the sunscreen again, stretching out on one of the lounge chairs and reapplying it.

"Can you get my back again before you go out?" she asked as he came over near her, setting some of the gear down. "I thought I might just lie out and enjoy the sun while you're out this time."

She saw him clench his jaw and swallow. "Sure," he said almost reluctantly. "Turn around." She was glad he couldn't see the devious grin on her face as he quickly rubbed the lotion around on her back, then tossed the sunscreen down on the lounge chair by her and disappeared to get more gear again.

"Thank you," she called happily after him. She heard a deep 'Mm hmm' come from the direction of the storage cabinet.

She was greatly amused as he came back with more gear and kept his gaze away from where she was sitting. He eventually went in to put his wetsuit on and came back out with it open on top again and looked balefully at her for assistance. She helped him get it on, noticing his gaze stuck firmly at the top of her head when she was in front of him. When she went around to zip it up, she couldn't help but run her hand up his back. "Your sunscreen must have worn off a little too and you got a slight burn yourself here. Do you have some aloe you want me to put on it before I zip you up?"

"Uh… no… maybe when I get done diving," he replied with his voice a bit unsteady as her fingers ghosted across his skin.

"Okay… don't forget… I wouldn't want you _whining_ all the way home," she teased as she pulled the zipper slowly up his back.

"Right… maybe you should put your t-shirt back on while you sit out here so you don't end up burned too," he said as he turned around to look at her, still keeping his gaze firmly locked on her face. She had to admire the resolve after his earlier reaction to her.

She gave him a coy grin and shrugged. "Maybe in a little while," she replied before she went back over and stretched out on the lounge chair again. She saw him shake his head out of the corner of her eye before he said he'd see her in a while and splashed into the water again.

Veronica adjusted the lounge chair, rolled over on to her stomach and enjoyed the warm rays on her back after Logan was gone. She hoped the conversation before they ate might help him stop being so down on himself. At least she had a little better understanding of one of the things that had been causing him to act the way he was. She had suspected it after her conversation with Dick, but seeing how Logan actually reacted, she felt like it was probably even worse than she first thought. And now that he knew she wasn't interested in Brandon and with Bex out of the picture, maybe Logan would start being honest about how he really felt about her. Veronica was still convinced that he had feelings for her too based on the way he'd reacted when he saw her with Brandon on Monday.

She eventually got up and went in for another bottle of water, returning with it to the lounge chair again. She adjusted the chair so she could lie down on her back this time. There was a nice breeze rolling across the deck and she was definitely feeling sleepy. She recalled a drowsiness warning on the prescription bottle, and she had taken a second pill right before they headed back in to Catalina to refill the air cylinders. She was thankful that either the medicine was working, or it had been the hangover last time, but either way, she was glad that she hadn't started feeling ill at all this time. She closed her eyes enjoying the warmth of the sun and could feel herself starting to get sleepier by the second.

The next thing she knew, she was jolted awake as she felt cold water dripping on her stomach, chest and face. She opened her eyes quickly and saw Logan smiling mischievously above her. He had his hands on the sides of the chair and was leaning over her, the water from his hair and wetsuit dripping down on her. When he saw her eyes open, he laughed and shook his head quickly causing her to get even wetter.

"Logan, you're getting me all wet," she squealed as she shoved him in the chest.

"I do seem to have that effect on women," he replied with a leering grin.

She gave him an annoyed glare, a little mad at herself for giving him that opening, and he laughed again.

"Oh come on, I had to keep my promise," he added with an amused smirk as he stood up straight. "You don't make a very good look-out do you? Falling asleep on the job? I'll be sure not to recommend you for any stakeouts."

"Well if I was watching for something interesting I wouldn't have fallen asleep," she quipped back with a smirk.

"Ouch," he replied with a faux hurt expression and put his hand on his chest. "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to recover from that."

She rolled her eyes and reached for her water bottle, which she realized was almost empty. "Need one?" she asked as she gestured toward him with it.

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah thanks."

She stood up and saw him turn his attention to taking his air cylinder off, instead of looking at her. She returned a few minutes later with two new water bottles and handed him one.

"Did you want me to unzip you?" she asked as she watched him open his bottle and take a long drink. He shook his head as he swallowed.

"No, I'm just going back out."

She looked at him with a concerned expression. "Shouldn't you take a longer break?"

He shrugged and shook his head. "I feel fine. I want to get another pass before the tide changes." After he said that, she glanced out against the island. She hadn't been paying much attention to the level of the water, but now realized the tide must have been coming in since the water did seem higher than she remembered against the island earlier. "I don't want to fight against it when it starts going back out," he explained.

She nodded but still wasn't thrilled he was going right back out. He gave her a reassuring smile. "Hey, it's fine. Trust me." She nodded again and tried to look less concerned as he started getting the other tank ready to go. He stopped and drank some more water, nearly finishing off the bottle before tossing it into a basket near the table.

"I'll let you get back to your _nap_," he said with a teasing smile.

"Looking this good does take a certain amount of beauty sleep," she replied with a smirk. When he opened his mouth to say something, with an obviously devious look on his face, she held her hand up. "Don't say it!"

He changed his expression to a look of innocence. "I have no idea what you think I was going to say."

"Right," she said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Wish me luck," he said as he finished up getting ready to jump in.

"Good luck," she said with a grin. He gave her a wink before he jumped into the water again.

Veronica perched herself on the edge of the lounge chair. She knew that he said it would be fine to go out again so soon, but she wasn't sure why she just had a bad feeling about it. He'd rested for a while between his first two dives, and then taken time to go in to get the cylinders refilled before the third. She was afraid that this was going to feel like the longest hour yet. She decided she'd had enough sun and grabbed her t-shirt and slipped it back over her swimsuit. At least when she used to watch him surf, she could always see him. It was absolutely torturous just sitting up on the boat wondering what was going on down there where she couldn't see him at all.

She eventually got up and walked over to the side of the boat facing the island and sat so she could watch the water better. He'd only been gone about 15 minutes by that point and she was already feeling more anxious than she had all day. A few other boats had come into the cove as well and she casually watched the people on the other boats to keep her mind off Logan and what was going on under the water. She was watching a few kids having fun on a slide that led down into the water, when she heard a splash near her. She was surprised to see Logan surfacing and heading toward the boat. She kept watching the water to be sure there wasn't a shark or something else dangerous that had caused him to come back early, but didn't spot anything.

"You should have wished me luck sooner," he said with an excited grin when he finally got to the boat.

"You found something?" she asked, completely surprised by the thought that he might have actually found the needle in a haystack that he was searching for.

He nodded as he handed her what looked like a small wooden bat as he climbed back into the boat.

"How do you know it's what they used? And what exactly is it?" she asked as she carefully held only the leather strap that was attached to it, trying not to touch it too much.

Logan had started taking some of his gear off already, setting the air cylinder down on the deck. "It's called a fish priest. For… well you can probably guess…"

"How do you know it was what they used though? Couldn't it have just fallen out of any number of boats fishing around here?" she asked, still not as confident as Logan seemed to be.

"Look at the end," he said causing her to turn it carefully.

There was a small inlayed silver disk in the end of it that had the initials B.A.D. on it. "Benjamin Alexander Donaldson?" Veronica asked as she looked at it. Logan nodded.

"Benji liked to fish for big sport fish sometimes and had a couple monogrammed fish priests on the boat. I'm not sure how many he actually had, so if one was missing, I wouldn't have probably even noticed. But this is definitely his. Hopefully they can get some DNA evidence off of it, or match it to the indentation in his…" he paused and cringed slightly. She nodded in understanding and gave him a sympathetic look.

He took a deep breath and then his smile returned. "Could you do something for me? I have an evidence bag in my duffle bag in on the bed. Could you run in and get it?" he asked.

She nodded and carefully handed the small wooden stick back to Logan as she headed in to get the bag. She was ecstatic that he had actually found something when she really hadn't expected it at all. The thrill of finding a significant clue always gave her such an endorphin rush and finding them with Logan seemed to make it even better. She returned a few minutes later with a big grin on her face and he slid the potential murder weapon into the plastic bag.

"Could you also help me with my suit again?" He asked, looking slightly sheepish about it still.

"Of course," she answered with an amused smile. "I see now why you really brought me along. It was just to serve as your designated zipper, wasn't it?"

He laughed and quirked one of his eyebrows at her. "Yeah, you busted me."

She was still so euphoric over getting such a big break in the case, she wasn't even thinking when she fell right back into the same old rhythms they used to have with each other. "Well if you need me to _unzip_ anything else for you, just let me know," she said flirtatiously before she had even really given it any thought.

"Veronica… I…" he stuttered out. Her comment definitely caught him off guard and instead of rolling with it, he looked genuinely flustered.

"I'm just joking," she said quickly, trying to recover from the awkwardness that had just filled the space between them with a playful smile even if his reaction hurt a little. "Turn around," she said as she walked closer to him. She quickly pulled the zipper down and then took a step away, being careful this time not to actually touch his skin as she unzipped him.

"I'm just going to go and change back into my other clothes if that's alright," she said as she gave him a tentative look and took another step closer to the cabin.

"Yeah of course. I need to get all my gear put away before I change," he replied giving her a slightly worried look as well.

She nodded and quickly turned and headed back inside. _Well that was painfully awkward, wasn't it, Veronica?_ She let out a frustrated sigh. _I shouldn't have let myself get so caught up in the excitement of his discovery. Although there had also been so many little things that he'd done today, that made me thing that he was also flirting with me. But that certainly wasn't the reaction I expected giving him that much of an opening. _She grabbed her bag from the spot near the door where she'd sat it earlier and walked back into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. She took another deep breath and shook her head. _He did just end a relationship with someone, and while I certainly didn't like her, he seemed to have been with her for quite a while. I'm sure he probably needs a little time to process that before having one of his ex-girlfriends hitting on him._ Veronica changed out of her suit and put back on the outfit that she had on before she'd gone swimming. She looked in the mirror and tried to put on the most convincing smile she could before she headed back out to the deck.

Logan had put all his gear away and was standing right inside the cabin door waiting for her to come back out. "It's all yours," she said with a small smile as she walked out of the bedroom and waved toward the door.

"Veronica… I didn't mean to upset you…" he explained with a genuinely concerned look on his face.

"You didn't," she replied quickly with a confident smile. "I'm thrilled that you may have found the murder weapon. Do you know what a huge break this is for the case?" Logan nodded but still looked at her a bit hesitantly. "I still can't believe you actually found it Logan. You should be so happy." She wondered if her sudden exuberance was just making things worse, or if he was actually buying it.

He nodded again and his smile started to return. "Thanks for coming with me today," he said as he walked by her toward the bedroom.

"Thanks for asking me to come along," she said with a warm smile as he gave her one last quick look before closing the bedroom door behind himself.


	25. Chapter 25

_**A/N – I was able to get another chapter done for Wildest Dreams to share with you all. It's still going to be a little while before I can get back to Rocky Shores though. I'm hoping to have a new chapter of Lightning Rod for Trouble published in a few days too. I was devastated to loose over 3k words of the latest chapter of that story due to a synch issue between my laptop and phone in Google Docs, so that didn't help either.**_

_**Thanks again to everyone for reading and a special thanks to those of you who take the time to leave reviews. And a heartfelt thank you to Bondopoulos for her amazing beta work yet again!**_

_**The only thing I have to say about this chapter is just remember that they don't write love songs about the ones that come easy!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 25

An unsettled aura seemed to surround Veronica and Logan on the boat ride back to Neptune. Neither had said much since Logan reemerged from the bedroom after changing back into his regular clothes. They briefly discussed stopping by the station on the way to her dad's house so they could drop off the evidence, but beyond that not much else had been said. Of course part of the reason for the lack of talking was the speed that they were traveling back to Neptune at. Conversation wasn't really very conducive with the wind or the sound from the engine. Veronica still joined Logan up on the upper deck as they returned, rather than avoiding him on the lower main level like she had when they left the dock on Catalina. She occasionally glanced at him, and would catch him looking at her a few of those times. Whenever their eyes met, he would generally give her a quick tentative smile before focusing back on the water.

It was getting close to dinnertime when they finally reached the marina. "Did you want to grab a bite to eat before I take you home?" Logan asked once he had slowed the boat down again, strategically making his way back toward his slip.

At least that sounded better than what she had expected to happen. She'd assumed that he'd want to get rid of her as quickly as possible after the uncomfortable feeling she had sensed following her gaffe about unzipping. "Yeah, that would be great," she replied with a slightly hesitant smile.

"Italian, Chinese or pizza... or anything else... whatever you feel like is fine with me," he continued, keeping his attention on the water in front of him.

"I haven't had Luigi's since my birthday," Veronica answered with a hopeful smile as he finally glanced at her for a few seconds.

"That would work great. I could pick up some lasagna for Heather too if she's going to be home tonight. She'd mentioned going to visit her sister, but that tends to fall through quite often."

Veronica nodded and gave him an understanding smile. It finally dawned on her that the second lasagna she'd seen the night of her birthday had probably been for Heather. _Of course I immediately jumped to the conclusion that he was seeing someone behind Bex's back. How many times has making inaccurate assumptions caused problems for us?_

It didn't take him very long to get the boat moored and for them to head up toward where he had parked that morning. Veronica glanced in the direction of the actual yacht club restaurant and bar. Since it was almost dinnertime, there were quite a few people in that area now and most appeared to be dressed in much fancier outfits than what she and Logan were wearing. Veronica was relieved that he hadn't suggested just eating at the club because she'd be terribly underdressed in her shorts and casual t-shirt.

She could hear music coming from the bar area as they made their way up the ramp to the parking lot. She felt a sick feeling wash over her though as they got closer to his SUV and she realized that there was a person leaning against it waiting for them... well probably just waiting for Logan.

She heard him take a deep measured breath, likely spotting the leggy blond at the same moment that Veronica had. Of course Bex was dressed in a low cut red designer dress that accentuated her voluptuous curves and showed off her long toned legs. Her hair was done up in an intricate up-do and she was wearing long dangling diamond and ruby earrings with a matching necklace. She had a lascivious smile on her face as her eyes remained locked on Logan.

"What do you want Bex?" He asked in a gruff voice when they got close enough to talk. "Have you been waiting here for me all afternoon?" Veronica sensed a bit of biting sarcasm as he asked the second question.

She let out an amused laugh and shook her head. "You've got to be kidding right? No, I was having dinner at the club with Addie and Todd and saw your yacht come back into the marina and thought I'd walk over to see if I could interest you in joining us for dinner... Or just interest you in meeting up later for a final farewell fuck."

Veronica was a bit taken back by Bex's guileless response, though from the little she had learned about Bex, perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised. There was something about the coldness in Bex's tone that made Veronica realize how much Bex acted like Lilly had when she hadn't gotten her way, not to mention the level of haughtiness she exhibited.

She saw Logan clench his jaws before he replied. "That's certainly not happening, Bex."

Bex laughed gleefully. "And what makes you so sure it's not. You know I always get what I want Logan, and we both know you get off trying to pretend you control things when clearly you never have. You have to know that's why we work so well together and why we always end up back with each other no matter how many times we fight."

Logan shook his head slightly before he spoke again. "Goodbye Bex. Have a fucking good time in France." Logan said as he passed where she had been leaning against the hood of the car and walked toward the passenger side. Veronica assumed that he was moving to open her door, although she wasn't sure, but continued to follow him to the other side of the SUV. Veronica gave Bex an angry glare as she walked by her, but Bex was focused solely on Logan and not looking at Veronica at all.

Bex laughed again as Logan pulled the passenger door open. "I see you're with Deputy Vicky again. She certainly gets around doesn't she? Didn't we just see Brandon fawning all over her on Monday? And now the two of you spent the day out on your yacht... how _romantic_."

"Not that it's any of your fucking business, but it was for a case," Logan snapped back as he glared at Bex. "And it's _Veronica_, which I know, damn well, that you know, and are just being a bitch about it."

Bex smiled even broader and laughed again before she spoke. "Ah, isn't it _sweet_ seeing you play the chivalrous good guy in front of her. Which _I_ know, _damn_ well, that _you_ know that you're _not_." Her repetition of basically what he had just said seemed to make Logan even angrier based on the fire in his eyes, but before he could respond, Bex started talking again. "Don't get me wrong, she does seem marginally better than the stripper you used to fuck, but we both know you could do a hell of a lot better... That you _have_ done a hell of a lot better," she raised an eyebrow at him as she leered at him salaciously.

"Don't be such a bitch," Logan quickly responded in a cold, angry tone.

Bex of course just laughed at him again. "Please don't act like you don't love it Logan. You're probably getting hard right now thinking of ways you'd like to make me shut up."

"I'm warning you Bex," Logan said angrily, which only made the gleam in Bex's eyes intensify.

"Fine love, but we both know what you _really_ want and where you'll end up tonight," Bex said as she started to turn toward the yacht club with a smug grin on her face. "As always, such a pleasure _Deputy Mars_." And with that, she headed back toward the club house.

Considering how quickly their little tête-à-tête had happened, if it hadn't been for the devastated look on Logan's face, Veronica may have thought she'd just imagined it. Although she didn't think she could ever have imagined something as horrible as what she actually witnessed, even if she'd tried. Logan stood holding the door open, staring into the empty space above the passenger seat, not moving or saying a word. The look on his face was one she'd seen a few times too many. The fire in his eyes from moments ago, fueled by his anger, had dimmed to something darker. His expression had clearly changed from anger towards Bex to complete self-loathing. _Please don't let her do that to you._ The uneasy feeling Veronica had when she first saw Bex, had intensified now to become a gut-wrenching ache. It spread throughout her body after seeing the state Bex had left Logan in. It was one thing for Logan to be angry at Bex, but to see him turn that into repugnance for himself was even worse. She could tell by the rise and fall of his chest, that adrenaline was coursing through him and he was still completely agitated by the encounter. Since he still hadn't moved she walked around him so that she was in front of him but not yet climbing into the car. He finally let his gaze slowly fall to meet her eyes, but his expression remained the same, filled with abhorrence clearly aimed at himself.

She gently reached up and put her hand on his cheek. "You are _not_ that guy Logan," she said reassuringly as she let her thumb gently graze across his cheek bone. Although she actually had no idea if maybe that really was who he'd become now. The small hopeful side of her didn't want to believe that could be true though, and thought that even if he was, maybe she could change him by believing in him again.

Logan took a deep shaky breath and closed his eyes for a moment, as if trying to force himself to truly believe her. He opened his eyes with a troubled look on his face. "Sometimes I am," he said sadly as he looked down at the space between them, avoiding her gaze again.

She swallowed hard and felt the ache that had started in her stomach completely engulf her heart as well. "You don't have to be," she said tenderly, not willing to give up on him at all. Her hand was still on his cheek and she continued to gently stroke it with her thumb. "I know you're better than the person she may bring out in you. She's just manipulating you to make you feel shitty about yourself so she feels powerful, but you don't have to let her. I believe you're better than that, and I wish you could as well."

He took another deep measured breath and glanced back up at her hesitantly as he exhaled. His eyes flitted away from hers every few seconds. "We should get to the station," he said, taking a step away from her so that her hand fell from his cheek.

Veronica tried not to physically react to how much anguish she felt, so instead she gave him a grim look and nodded. She turned her back toward him as she climbed in and then looked back toward him once she was in her seat. Logan's eyes briefly landed on hers before he quickly looked away and then closed the door for her. She let out a deeply frustrated sigh and watched him in the side mirror as he walked slowly toward the back of the SUV. He'd carried both their bags up from the boat and she assumed he was going to put them in the cargo area of the SUV. The amount of sadness she suddenly felt for him was almost overwhelming as she had more time to think about the situation. At first she couldn't imagine how he could have stayed as long as he did with someone like Bex, who clearly _enjoyed_ making him feel horrible about himself. But then Veronica thought about Aaron. Logan probably spent years of his life believing he deserved the bad things that Aaron did to him. Of course a common thread in so many abuse cases is for the abuser to convince the victim that they deserve what's happening to them. Did that mean that Logan now believed that he deserved everything Bex also did? That he didn't deserve to be happy and to be loved by someone because of all the horrible things that he felt guilty for doing? Is that why he ended or sabotaged some of his other relationships that weren't as damaging? Lacey certainly didn't seem to be anything like Bex, and she was only angry at Logan because he couldn't love her the way she'd loved him. Veronica felt her heart ache thinking back to how badly Lilly had also treated Logan. He had just taken it and continued to go back to her every time, as if he craved Lilly's occasional willingness to show him love to fill that empty void inside of him that everyone else in his life at that time had created. And then there was her, Veronica. _Did I sometimes treat him just as badly? Never trusting him, always pointing out all the things that he did to disappoint me, vilifying him for his mistakes and bad choices_. What he said to her when he broke up with her in the quad at Hearst came crashing back to her. _'I don't think I quite measure up to the person that you want me to be and I just can't take feeling like a disappointment anymore.'_ She choked back a sob she felt forming in her throat, but she could still feel the tears stinging her eyes.

She took a deep breath, trying to maintain her composure, and shifted slightly so that she could see him again in the side mirror as he slowly opened the back and put their bags in. She could see that he was still clenching his jaw and that his expression of self-loathing was still very much there. Veronica wished she could do something to make things better. She'd been trying to convince him, just earlier that day, that he was a good person and now Bex shows up and completely tears him down again. _At least I'm trying to make him believe in himself again. As if that could really even begin to make up for everything damaging that's happened to him though, but I guess at least it's a start._ It absolutely killed her that he had to fall so far though, for her to realize what was really happening and the role she had likely played in it too. _I was just one more person who chipped away at his self esteem and made him feel like he wasn't worth loving._

He finally made it back around to his side of the SUV and opened the door to climb in. Logan wouldn't meet her gaze at all as he sat down, started the ignition and then buckled himself in.

"Logan," she prodded gently, hoping he would at least look at her again. He put his hands on the steering wheel and faced forward. Veronica was definitely frustrated that he was starting to shut her out, but tried not to let that emotion show. She reached out and put one of her hands on his, gently running her thumb across the back of it. "You don't deserve to be treated that way," she told him in a soft steady voice. She took a quick breath trying to be sure she didn't break down at all while she was speaking. "And I'm sorry… for all the times I made you feel like you weren't good enough for me."

He finally turned and looked at her with a doleful expression and shook his head. "No… you were right… I'm not Veronica."

She let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head in response. "No… that's not true Logan… you are… I wish I could convince you of that..."

He gave her a grim smile as he moved his hand so he could grasp hers with his own and gave it a slight squeeze. "I appreciate that you're trying to make me feel better… but some of what Bex said is true… I'm not a very good person Veronica." Before she could open her mouth to protest again he interrupted her. "We had a deal this morning remember? I really don't want to keep talking about this." He sat her hand on her lap, pulled his own away and started to back the SUV out of its parking spot.

Veronica clenched her jaw tightly as she stared at him. He kept his focus solely on the road in front of him, even though she was sure he could see her out of his peripheral vision. When he did need to look in her direction to make a turn, Logan quickly looked away and didn't make eye contact with her. She remained quiet for about five minutes before she finally couldn't stand it and had to try again. "I'll pay you for the coffee if you'll talk to me again," she finally offered.

She heard him let out a frustrated breath and then saw him shake his head slightly. "I'll talk to you… just not about that."

"Nothing else comes to mind," she said a bit more petulantly than she'd intended. _Not really helping Veronica._ She let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm sorry…"

"You don't have to apologize," Logan quickly interrupted. "You haven't done anything wrong Veronica… honestly I'm the one who should apologize for how I acted yesterday. I'm sorry that I didn't stop to think about how difficult talking to Dick again had to have been for you."

_Reliving something I don't even remember can't be any worse than all the pain you've knowingly had to live with for years. _Unfortunately before she could figure out what else to say they had arrived at the station.

"Do you mind if we just get Luigi's to go?" Logan asked as he turned off the car and kept staring straight ahead. "It's been a really long day… but if you want to eat there we can."

"Take out is fine," she answered. He finally turned to look at her again and gave her a slight smile and nodded.

"What's your poison?"

"I'll take the Cannelloni Fiorentina," she said with a small smile, relieved that he was finally willing to make eye contact again.

"Tiramisu or cannoli?" he asked next. She gave him a conflicted look. "Both?" he asked with raised eyebrows. Veronica couldn't help smiling a bit more and then nodded. The corner of his lips rose up in a half-smile as he pulled out his phone.

"Just let me check with Heather, and then we can order it before we take the evidence into the station."

She watched as he pressed a few times on his phone and then held it up to his ear. "Hey kiddo, are you at Melinda's tonight?" He paused while he listened to Heather's reply. "Well I'm glad she didn't bail on you again. What time do you think you'll be home tomorrow?" He paused again and then grimaced slightly. "That's tomorrow? Right… I forgot… Yeah sure, we can still do that. Yeah I'm off work tomorrow." She watched him roll his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… no uniform this time… I got it. How many?" He started lightly drumming his fingers of the hand not holding the phone on the steering wheel while he listened to Heather talking. "What time did you tell them? ...Yeah, 5 o'clock sounds fine. Okay... Yeah, Brandon and Norris might want to come too… I'll text them later. Yeah… um…" he glanced at Veronica. "We were actually working on a case together today so I'm here with her… sure I'll ask her." Veronica's eyes opened in surprise, not expecting Heather to actually ask about her. "Okay, I'll see you in the morning. Tell Melinda I said hi... Bye." He disconnected the call and glanced over at Veronica.

"Ask me what?" She certainly wasn't going to let him off the hook for whatever it was.

"Um… Heather's _boyfriend_ Colton's birthday is Monday and she wanted to have a BBQ at our place tomorrow for him. She asked if you'd like to come too."

"Oh… she doesn't even know me though… but I appreciate her asking..." Veronica decided she'd better just accept the offer before he actually rescinded it. "Sure, that would be fun," she quickly blurted out.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Well I don't share your same assessment of how _fun_ it will actually be… but I'm glad you'll be coming. In addition to Heather and Colton, I think there will be at least 4-6 other teenagers… thus the reason I'm not really on the '_fun_' bandwagon."

She gave him a knowing smile and nodded. Logan pushed buttons on his phone again, ordering her meal, the desserts as well as Chicken Carpariello for himself.

They both headed into the station, where Leo was actually just getting ready to leave for the day. Glad to have caught him, Veronica and Logan gave him an update on what they'd found when Logan was diving. Leo was thrilled by the potential break in the case and said they could have the M.E. look into it when he returned on Monday.

The pair returned to Logan's SUV and he drove them to Luigi's to pick up the food. He said he'd just run in and get it if she wanted to wait in the car, to which she agreed. She really didn't want him to feel like she was being overbearing after everything that had just happened with Bex. Veronica watched Logan through the window and saw him typing on his phone while he waited for the girl behind the counter to bring out their food. She assumed he was probably texting Norris or Brandon about the BBQ. She was hoping that Norris would bring Mac along so she would have some familiar female companionship, and even if Brandon brought Carmen that would be nice too. Veronica thought about texting Mac, but if Norris didn't ask her along, she didn't want to upset her either, so she decided just to wait and see how it would all play out. She noticed Logan's mood seemed a little bit improved after talking with Heather on the phone and then with Leo at the station, but Veronica still couldn't shake that aching feeling that had started after their run in with Bex. A part of her said to just let it go and continue to be as positive for Logan as she could be, rather than dwell on the past, but another part adamantly refused to.

Logan returned a few minutes later with a bag of food and put it on the seat behind his. As he climbed back into his seat his cell phone chimed. She cocked an eyebrow at him when he didn't pull it out because clearly it was loud enough for them both to hear. "Do you need to check that?" Veronica asked curiously.

"No," he said, and she noticed the darkness that had been on his face earlier had returned. _Of course, Bex._

Neither one said anything the rest of the drive back to her dad's house. "You're coming in to eat with me right?" she asked a bit hesitantly when he parked the car in the driveway, but didn't make a move to climb out. He shrugged and gave her a conflicted look.

"If you want… sure, I guess I can." He replied, though she could still see he had regressed back closer to how he was right after they had run into Bex.

Veronica was a bit disheartened by his reaction, but didn't want him to realize that, so nodded with a broad smile. They both climbed out of the SUV and Logan went to the very back first to retrieve her bag before opening the other door to get the food out. She reached out for her bag, and he shook his head, saying that he had it.

"Thanks," she said with a warm smile as she walked up the porch steps and started digging out her keys. "You can just set the bag down there," she said as she pointed to a padded bench inside the front door. "If you want to put the food on the kitchen table, I'll grab plates and utensils. Did you want wine, beer or something else to drink?"

"Whatever you'd like is fine with me," Logan replied as he sat the bags down on the kitchen table. "Is your dad gone?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen area, where she was pulling plates out of the cabinet. He reached out to help her with them and she gave him a grateful smile and handed them to him as she nodded her head in reply to his question. She'd spotted a note on the counter from her dad saying that he was staying the night at Alicia's when she'd first walked into the kitchen. She found a bottle of red wine and grabbed two wine glasses after she'd pointed out the silverware drawer to Logan. He also grabbed some napkins, while she dug around for the bottle opener. "I've got it," he said taking the opener from her once she located it. After they went back to the table, he opened the wine and poured a glass for each of them.

"So…" Veronica said as she started to transfer her Cannelloni Fiorentina to her plate. Logan gave her a worried look as he opened the container with his chicken. "Dick's married to Heather's sister?"

She saw a relieved look pass over his face as he shook his head. Apparently he had expected her to start in on him about Bex again. "No, they got it annulled. It was a crazy drunken Vegas wedding that was pretty much over by the time they made it back to Neptune."

Veronica nodded and then took a bite of her food. She figured it would be even more awkward for Logan if Dick was married to the sister of the teen that Logan was taking care of, so was relieved for him that they weren't. Veronica let out a low _Mmm_ sound as she relished the flavors from the bite she had taken, before swallowing it. She seriously didn't think there was anything on Luigi's menu that wasn't absolutely delicious. Logan gave her a little smirk as he took a bite of his own food.

"Do you get any say in the menu being a silent partner at Luigi's?" Veronica asked before taking another bite. She'd noticed on her birthday that they'd added a few items that hadn't been on the menu when she lived in Neptune before, and was suspicious later since a few of them were dishes she'd tried at an Italian Food restaurant in San Diego that Logan had taken her to several times. Her current dish being one of those items.

She saw a guilty look cross his face as he shrugged. "Maybe," he said after taking another drink of his wine. She smiled coyly and nodded.

"Well I whole-heartedly approve," she replied, earning a soft smile from him in return. He offered her a bite of his chicken and it felt like, at least at the present moment, that they were starting to feel more at ease again. There wasn't a lot of conversation, but they did discuss the case a little bit more as they continued to eat.

Veronica noticed Logan was fidgeting a bit in his seat as they were finishing up their main courses. He rolled his shoulders back every so often, straightening his back in the process. They'd nearly finished off the bottle of wine and she was actually feeling a little tipsy by that point. Veronica realized then that she may have been drinking quite a bit more of it than Logan had without actually meaning to. "Your sunburn bothering you?" she asked with a small smirk.

He glowered a bit at her and nodded. "Someone didn't do a very good job of putting sunscreen on my back I guess."

She gave him a defiant look at first, but then realized he probably had a point. "Sorry… I really thought I'd gotten it on well enough."

He gave her a tender smile. "Actually I think it's less of a sunburn and more of my wetsuit just rubbing me wrong along my spine, or a combination of the two. I don't generally wear it for that many hours on the same day since I usually don't do dives quite like that."

"Do you want me to look at it? We should have some aloe or some other cream that might help."

"I'm fine Veronica," Logan said as he shook his head.

"Don't be a big baby," she taunted as she stood up and walked behind him. "Let me see." If she hadn't had the several large glasses of wine, she's not sure she would have been quite as bold given everything else that had already happened that day. At that point though, she just really wanted to get back to the comfortable rhythm that they'd had earlier that day. She pushed his shirt up toward his shoulders so she could see what was going on. She felt that horrible ache come back as she saw the faint lines that had remained from Aaron's abuse, making her think of all the invisible scars that Logan had on the inside too. Veronica ran her hand tenderly along one of the deeper scars that had left a long white line. She felt him let out a deep slow exhale. His skin around that scar was a little red from the sun and the wet suit rubbing him there. "I'll be right back," she said quickly and disappeared into the hall. She took a deep breath once she reached the solitude of the bathroom and tried to shake the despondent feeling that had suddenly overtaken her again. She dug around the cabinet and finally found a bottle of moisturizing aloe lotion that would help both the sunburn and the irritation that the wetsuit had caused.

She walked back out to find Logan in the kitchen rinsing off their dirty dishes. "I should probably just go… you don't have to…" he said as he gestured to the lotion.

"Sit," Veronica said forcefully as she pointed to one of the stools at the kitchen counter. "And you should probably take your shirt off for a little while, so you don't get lotion all over it."

He let out a slight huff of resignation before he finally went over and took a seat on the stool, pulling his shirt off over his head. She put lotion on her hands and rubbed them together to warm it up a little bit before touching it to the irritated skin on his back. She felt him exhale again as she started rubbing the lotion over his warm skin. She couldn't help but trace the scars lightly again with her fingers and a pang of sadness came back to her again. She thought about all the people that had continuously hurt him throughout his life, herself included. Maybe it was the wine, or just the culmination of all the things that had happened since she'd been back but whatever it was, Veronica blurted out her next thought before she'd even had time to consider it. "I never heard the message." She felt the tears threatening to pour from her eyes again and her voice sounded extremely shaky as she said it.

"What message?" Logan said as he turned around to face her. The confusion on his face instantly turned into concern as he took in her expression. He seemed to instinctively reach up and brushed some strands of hair gently off her face, his warm fingers gently caressing her cheek.

She felt a tear escape and roll down her cheek. "The message you left me when we broke up the last time… I deleted it without listening to it…" she swallowed and blinked, trying to make her other tears stop. "Well I heard the beginning… but not the entire message."

It seemed to take him a minute to figure out what she was talking about but then she saw a look of despair cross his face as he pulled his hand away. "Just the bad part…" he asked quietly. She nodded and gave him a sad smile.

She watched him swallow hard and shrug. "It was just a message... years ago, Veronica," Logan said trying his best to put on an unaffected facade, but she knew him too well and could tell the realization really hurt. "It doesn't really matter now."

She felt more tears roll down her cheeks as her attempt to stop them had failed. "But if it had mattered _then_… I'm so sorry Logan… I never thought about… about how I was just like the rest of them."

The confused expression returned to his face. "What are you talking about Veronica, there's no one like you… never has been… never will be."

Their heads were only inches from each other with him sitting on the stool and her standing next to him. She took a deep breath and then just couldn't help herself. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. He may have been surprised, but it only took a second for his body to respond and his mouth worked effortlessly with hers to send a wave of desire coursing through her. She felt one of his hands come up to cup her head while the other one snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She turned her head slightly so their mouths lined up better and then the kisses became slower and deeper. Veronica closed her eyes, completely lost in the sensation of kissing him and feeling him touch her. It felt so amazing to kiss him again after all those years and she was getting completely breathless from how long it continued. She let her hands slowly sweep across his warm bare chest, relishing in the feel of his body as her fingers made their way across his chiseled chest up toward his shoulders and neck.

He finally pulled his head away and took a deep breath. Veronica also panted for oxygen, and a dreamy smile formed on her lips as she slowly opened her eyes. But then she saw the look on his face and her heart sank again.

"I'm sorry…" he said with a tone of panic as he shook his head. "I can't… we shouldn't do this."

She shook her head quickly as well. "No… why… why can't we?" She reached up and stroked his cheek and he let out a shaky breath.

Logan closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them again looking sadly at her. "I won't be able to survive another implosion when we ultimately crash and burn."

Veronica felt a little wave of anger course through her. "You don't know that we couldn't make it work this time," she replied adamantly. He had always been more of a hopeless romantic than she had, and if he couldn't believe in them now, what chance would they actually have. But she certainly wasn't ready to give up on him that easily though.

He sucked in another shaky breath and put his hands on either side of her head. When Logan spoke his voice was so broken and the look in his eyes was so intensely sad. "You weren't _here_ Veronica… you didn't see how bad I got when you left… before I finally came back from the brink… I _can't_ go there again… I don't think I'd make it back the next time." He paused and took another deep breath. "Please don't hate me for this Veronica… I want you to still be a part of my life so badly… but… not like this."

She felt a sob escape, but Veronica nodded her head. She realized that arguing with him right now wasn't going to help anything. For them, raw emotions frequently led to saying things they would later regret. He let out a sigh and pressed his forehead against hers for a second before he kissed her tenderly on the head and then moved his hands down to her shoulders and pulled his head away from hers.

"I should probably go…" he said suddenly.

"Okay…" she said, still reeling from what had happened and feeling almost as if she were in shock. He gave her a concerned look but nodded and reached for his shirt, quickly pulling it back over his head. He stood up from the stool and gave her a grim look. She still felt absolutely horrible. She wanted more than anything to help him not feel so damaged anymore. Veronica would have rather done it as something more than just a platonic friend, but maybe that's what he really needed more than anything else at this point in his life. Someone who knew everything he'd been through before and could help him feel better about himself and maybe keep him from making more of the same damaging choices. Before she could talk herself out of it, she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him. He must have been surprised at first, but after a minute, wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"I'm so sorry Logan," she cried softly against his chest. "I'm sorry I left… and for everything before... I wish I could change everything that happened, but I know that I can't."

He placed a tender kiss on the top of her head. "I'm still glad you're back now," he said quietly before he dropped his arms from her. She did the same and gave him a somber look as she nodded.

"Bye Veronica," Logan said sadly as he turned and headed for the door. Veronica stood frozen in the kitchen as she heard the door open and then close behind him. She let out a loud sob and then sank down on the floor next to the kitchen counter and sat there crying. She wished more than anything that she'd realized exactly what she'd been doing to him all those years ago. And now she felt completely devastated that she may have lost her chance with him forever.


	26. Chapter 26

_**A/N – Wow, I was absolutely overwhelmed with the huge number of reviews on FF for the last chapter. That was the most I've ever received for a single chapter, so I guess that chapter is now like my gold standard for the one to top! I'm so thrilled with all the wonderful comments you all left! Thank you, thank you, thank you! **_

_**And as before a huge thank you to Bondopoulos for her amazing beta work yet again! Of course you can't blame her for the angst, just appreciate her for helping it sound better!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 26

Veronica didn't feel much better when she woke up the following morning. After Logan left, she'd eventually stopped crying enough to put the desserts in the fridge and make it to her bedroom. She laid there for a moment letting her eyes adjust to the bright sunlight streaming in through the window. She realized after a few seconds that someone was knocking at the front door which may have been what woke her up. A part of her hoped it was Logan, coming back because he'd had a change of heart about what he'd said the night before. She grabbed the robe off the end of her bed and practically ran to the door.

She let out a huge sigh of disappointment when she opened the door and found Brandon standing on the other side. He had an extremely concerned look on his face, so Veronica figured he probably already knew that something bad had happened the night before. He certainly didn't seem surprised or upset at her reaction to seeing him there anyway.

"Hey," he said softly as he watched her carefully. "I thought I'd see how you were doing. Maybe we could go get some breakfast, or I'll make you something here."

She gave him a sad half smile. "You don't have to do that."

"I know... but I wanted to make sure you were okay."

She smiled a little more and nodded. "Thanks... you can come in," she said gesturing into the house since he hadn't moved from the doorway yet. He nodded and walked in, allowing her to close the door. She leaned against the door and looked balefully at him. "I take it you talked to Logan last night or this morning?"

Brandon nodded. "Yeah, I called him last night to see if he wanted to dive more today, and he sounded totally wrecked when he answered. He didn't tell me much, but enough for me to figure out that something happened between the two of you."

She nodded and took a quick breath, not wanting to cry about it again. She walked over to the couch and he followed her, taking a seat about a foot away from where she had sat down. "We were mostly fine on the boat. He actually found the weapon they may have used on Benjamin, but then we ran into Bex when we got back." Brandon cringed slightly and nodded.

"The way she treated him... it made me think back to all the people in Logan's life who had treated him terribly... myself included... and then..." She paused, not really sure how much to confide in Brandon, but he really had been such a good friend to her so far. "I got carried away... and kissed him..." Brandon gave her a puzzled look, likely thinking a kiss wasn't really that bad. She took a deep breath before she continued. "He sort of freaked out and said he didn't want to be with me like that again... that he _couldn't_ do that again."

"I'm sure he's just..." Brandon paused as if he was trying to think of the right words to say. "Maybe he's spent so many years building up those walls that he's just afraid to let anyone in again that he really cares about."

Veronica nodded in agreement. "I don't know how to change that though, or if it's not even possible. Maybe he's just so closed off now and determined to stay that way that it will be impossible to reach him even if I try."

"I hope you aren't planning on giving up on him that easily," Brandon replied with a dour look.

Veronica shrugged and shook her head. "I'm not going to give up on him as a friend, but I'm also not going to keep throwing myself at him either. I'm _also_ not particularly fond of getting my heart broken."

"Well sometimes you have to take a big risk to get the things that really matter to you," Brandon commented as he continued to watch her carefully.

"No one writes songs about the ones that come easy..." Veronica replied barely above a whisper then let out a sad sigh.

Brandon gave her a soft smile and nodded. "Just give him a little time. I'm sure whatever number Bex did on him yesterday wasn't good for him at all. Thank God she's leaving today." She shrugged and then nodded in reply. "He didn't say something absolute, like he wanted you totally out of his life, right?"

She cringed for a second thinking back to how close that was to what she'd told Logan after he beat up Piz. She shook her head. "No... he said he still wanted me to be a part of his life, just not like _that_."

"Do you think you can do that regardless of how things work out?" Brandon asked her, looking a little worried.

She nodded. "Yeah... of course. I'm sure I can at least be his friend if nothing else." _At least I hope I can_.

"Good," Brandon replied. "I'm positive, based on how he acts around you, that he still has strong feelings for you, but he may not be ready to deal with that yet given everything else that's been going on."

Veronica nodded in agreement again. She was sure of it too, but that didn't mean Logan was willing to give them another try. Maybe he didn't want to take the risk again either.

"Are you coming to the BBQ tonight?" Brandon asked next.

"Oh, right... Heather did ask if I wanted to come, but now I'm not sure if that's such a good idea," she replied uncertainly.

"Well I think you should. Don't pressure him about anything, but show him you'll still support him and be a friend no matter what. Knowing him, he's not going to call and remind you again, but if he asked you to come and now you don't, I'm guessing he'll feel even worse than he sounded last night."

Veronica gave him an understanding look and nodded. She could always leave early if it went horribly wrong.

"So wanna go out for breakfast? I'm not really that great of a cook," Brandon asked looking a bit sheepish.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Sure, let me go and get changed."

He smirked a little and nodded. "Sorry if I woke you up. I thought you'd already be up since it's almost 9."

She actually hadn't realized how late it was, but she'd been too upset the night before to fall asleep easily. It had been after 2am before she'd finally dozed off. She shook her head and smiled. "No problem, I just didn't sleep well last night."

He gave her an understanding smile as she turned to go back to her bedroom to change.

"Feel up for breakfast with Mac and Norris?" Brandon asked when she reemerged from her room.

She eyed him suspiciously, though with a playful smirk. "This isn't a double date right?"

He laughed and shook his head. "No... just friends going out to eat... I promise."

She smiled for a moment and then gave him her best scandalous expression. "Did Miss Mackenzie stay the night last night?"

He smirked and then shrugged. "I was asleep when they finally made it home and she happened to be there when I woke up. Her actual sleeping location I have no knowledge of."

Veronica laughed and shook her head. "And how about you and Carmen? Did she stay over too? Is that why you don't know what your roommate was up to?"

Brandon blushed slightly and shook his head. "No, she had a family event last night so she left Catalina several hours before I was able to go home."

"You know there is a thing known as a booty call that you could have suggested," Veronica teased and then laughed as Brandon turned a bright red. "Sorry," she apologized as she was still chuckling slightly. "I just couldn't resist."

Brandon shook his head at her. "Well if it makes you feel better... I'll survive."

"Seriously though, it looked like you two were pretty cozy on Catalina, so things must be going well?"

He nodded and glanced down for a moment. "I know you're fine with it, but it still feels a little odd talking to you about it considering where we were less than a week ago."

"Yeah... I get that..." She gave him a more heartfelt smile. "I really do appreciate how understanding and supportive you've been."

Brandon smiled and nodded in reply. "I just want you both to be happy," he said in reply before they headed out the front door.

The cafe they went to was a newer one located close to Dog Beach. There were a number of surfers out on the water and they had a clear view out to the ocean as they were seated on the outdoor patio. Seeing all the surfers of course reminded her of Logan and a bit of the sadness she'd felt the night before started to come back. Norris and Mac arrived a few minutes after they did, holding hands and practically beaming as they walked to the table.

Mac's expression changed though and she gave Veronica a grim smile as she sat down in the seat across from her. Evidently she also must have known something bad happened the night before. Veronica appreciated that she didn't jump right into it though.

Veronica gave Norris an update on what they'd found when Logan went diving as they waited for their food to be delivered. They spent most of the rest of the time listening to Norris and Mac talk about the Japanese exhibit that they went to the day before and their spur of the minute trip to a new Japanese food restaurant that had just opened in San Diego, thus explaining why they had been out really late the night before.

"You're coming to the BBQ today, right?" Mac finally asked a bit hesitantly.

Brandon gave Veronica a soft reassuring look, and she nodded back at Mac.

"Well you're welcome to come along with us if you want," Mac added.

_While it would be good to be able to make a quick get away, there might be safety in numbers too_. Veronica decided she could certainly use some extra moral support if things didn't go very well. She could also just call a taxi if she really needed to leave. "Sure, that would be great."

Brandon shared that he'd invited Carmen to come too so they decided that Brandon would go and get Carmen while Norris and Mac would pick up Veronica. They also quickly discussed their after-breakfast logistics. Since Mac had driven Norris and herself in her car to breakfast, she said she'd take Veronica home and Norris could go home with Brandon. Once they were done eating they headed back to the parking lot, where Mac and Norris bashfully gave each other a quick kiss goodbye.

"Looks like things are going well between the two of you," Veronica commented as they both climbed into Mac's car.

A sly smile crossed Mac's lips as she nodded in reply. Her expression changed to be more worrisome before she spoke though. "So what happened between you and Logan?" she asked compassionately. "All Brandon was able to say was that Logan sounded like he was a mess last night and that the two of you had spent the day together. I know he ended things with Bex too, but that couldn't have been all that traumatic."

Veronica nodded. "We had a few ups and downs out in the yacht, but I thought overall the good far outweighed the bad. Then we came back to Neptune and ran into Bex." Mac made a disgusted expression before Veronica continued. "I didn't realize how terrible she could be to him... And then I thought back to all the other people in his life who treated him badly too."

Mac nodded in understanding. "Aaron and Lilly?" she asked with a concerned look.

"Yeah..." Veronica answered softly. "And me..."

"You didn't..." Mac started to protest before she was interrupted by Veronica.

"I was so hard on him Mac... harshly judging him for every little mistake he made. I wasn't really much better..."

Mac shook her head slowly. "I don't think that was exactly the same though."

Veronica shrugged. "I still made him _feel_ like a disappointment. He actually told me that's how he felt when he broke up with me before Christmas break during freshman year. I never stopped to think about how I was just one more person making him feel like he wasn't worth being loved."

"At least you can change that now," Mac replied optimistically.

Veronica shrugged. "Yeah... I also kissed him after dinner and he more or less pushed me away and said he didn't want to be with me like that again... that he was too worried about what would happen when we ultimately failed again."

"Oh..." Mac replied, apparently trying to think of what to say next.

"Brandon said to give him some time. I just wish it wasn't so hard for us. That for once in our lives things could just be easy and work out for us."

"I'm sorry Veronica. Brandon's right though. Give him some time to deal with everything," Mac suggested with a reassuring smile. "Are you having second thoughts about going tonight?"

Veronica shrugged again. "It's not like we won't be working together tomorrow. Maybe if we get over any awkwardness today it will make work easier tomorrow."

Mac nodded in agreement as they pulled up in front of Keith's house. "Well we'll be there to support you. I'm sure it will be fine."

Veronica hoped that Mac was right as she thanked her for the ride and climbed out of the car. She decided to go for a run to clear her head, thinking that would be better than just hanging around the house and spiraling into a state of self pity again. She headed toward the ocean and ran along the beach for a while before finally turning and heading back to her dad's house.

When she made it back from her run, she noticed her dad's car was in the driveway. _Maybe some father-daughter time will make me feel better_. As she reached the porch the front door opened and Keith stepped outside.

"Hey kiddo," Keith said as he gave her a broad smile. "I wondered where you'd gotten off to since your car was still here."

"Hey dad," she said a bit breathlessly as she took her earbuds out. "I wasn't sure you still lived here," she teased as she climbed up the porch steps. "Is this just a social call?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "Hey, I did stop by here for a few hours yesterday. I saw your note and left you one of my own."

She nodded as she walked past him into the house to grab a water bottle from the fridge. Keith followed her back inside, although she noticed that he left the front door open. Veronica figured he was likely headed back to Alicia's house. She also noticed he was studying her more carefully than she liked.

"So... you feeling okay?" he asked with a scrutinizing expression.

She'd already talked through her Logan issues with Brandon and Mac, and she didn't really feel like going through it all over again with her dad. She still wasn't really sure how much her dad even liked Logan at this point either. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Because there are two uneaten desserts from Luigi's in our fridge," he replied with a questioning look on his face.

"What, can't a girl decide to save them for later?"

"I also saw two empty dinner containers in the garbage."

Veronica laughed. "I forgot what it was like living with a PI." Keith quirked an eyebrow at her waiting for an answer. She gave him a smug smile and shrugged. "Maybe I was just too full from eating _two_ dinners to eat two desserts too."

He narrowed his eyes at her, obviously not quite buying her story.

"So were you heading off some where again?" she asked hoping to change the subject.

He shook his head slightly, obviously well aware of her attempt at being evasive. "Yep, I was just headed over to Alicia's. You're welcome to join us for dinner again tonight."

Veronica smiled and shook her head. "I've got plans to go to a BBQ tonight with Mac." She decided to just avoid telling him where said BBQ was being held. Keith nodded, but still had a slightly judgmental expression on his face.

"So your note said you were going out to Catalina with Logan to work on your case?"

Veronica nodded. "Yeah, he actually went diving and thinks he found what Benjamin might have been hit with. A wooden fish priest that had Benjamin's initials on it."

"So he was the second dinner?" Keith asked with a questioning look.

Veronica gave him a sly smile. "Nice try."

"Fine, if you don't want to confide in me, I'll understand... Of course I'm completely devastated, but I understand."

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a drama queen."

"What can I say, I learned it from my daughter," he replied with a smug grin. "Well I'd better be off. I need to pick up some meat to grill for dinner. Maybe I'll see you tonight."

Veronica laughed and shook her head. "Why haven't you just moved in with her already?"

He shrugged and didn't answer as he gave her a quick kiss in the cheek. "Love you honey."

"Love you too pops," Veronica replied with a fond smile as he turned and headed back out the front door.

Veronica went in and took a nice long hot shower and then leisurely started getting ready to go to Logan's. She still put on something a little nicer than the other outfits she'd worn around him, not to make him more interested in her, but to make herself feel a little better. Lily used to always say that wearing something that made you feel a little sexy was good for your mood.

She actually ended up changing clothes about four times before she finally settled on something. She realized of course that she was being way too anxious over just going to Logan's house for a BBQ. Especially considering the guest of honor was actually just some teenage boy that she'd never even met. Veronica was relieved when Mac and Norris finally arrived to pick her up. At least the excruciating waiting was over and she could get on with her evening and whatever it might bring.

The three of them made lighthearted small talk on the drive to Logan's house, which Veronica was thankful for since it kept her mind off worrying about how the evening might go. When they finally arrived she took a deep breath and climbed out of the car. _Why did I think this was a good idea?_ Mac must have sensed her hesitation because she walked over and put a comforting arm around Veronica.

"Better today than tomorrow, right?" Mac asked quietly enough that Norris probably didn't hear her.

Veronica took a deep breath and nodded. They followed Norris up to the house. Veronica was a little surprised that Norris only knocked lightly on the door and then opened it to go in. They could hear music and voices coming from the direction where Veronica had seen the pool, and Norris headed straight for the back of the house.

She, of course, immediately spotted Logan. He had his back toward them, apparently doing something with a BBQ grill that was located in a fancy outdoor kitchen island on the patio.

"I'd better go help Logan before he injures himself in the grill... again," Norris whispered to them with a sly grin before he headed off in Logan's direction.

"Need some help?" Norris asked as he approached him.

Logan spun around at the sound of Norris' voice, a friendly smirk in place until his eyes landed on Veronica. At first he looked completely surprised to see her, and she worried that he didn't really want her to be there. But after a moment's pause, a warm smile spread across his face.

Mac had kept walking with Norris, but Veronica had remained more or less frozen in place from the second Logan's eyes had landed on her, as a surge of anxiety coursed through her. Logan walked toward Veronica and stopped a few feet in front of her. "I'm really glad you came," he said a bit nervously as he tipped his head down slightly and looked back up at her. "I was afraid you'd be too angry after last night."

"I still want to be your friend, Logan," Veronica replied with a tender smile and as confident a tone as she could manage.

"Me too," he said as a nodded his head slowly.

"So what's this I hear about you injuring yourself on a BBQ grill?" she asked with a playful smirk. She was hoping for an entertaining story to keep things from turning any more awkward than they already were.

Logan shot a quick look at Norris who chuckled and shrugged back at him. "Which time?" Norris asked with a rueful grin.

Logan shook his head and rolled his eyes. "There haven't been that many times," he answered in protest.

"Well only one time required a trip to the ER at least," Norris clarified as Veronica raised her eyebrows in a questioning expression.

"You do know fire makes things hot, right?" Veronica asked with a sly smile.

"Thanks for the tip," Logan answered sarcastically.

"Seriously though, what did you do to yourself?" Veronica asked with a more serious expression.

Logan shook his head and looked down at the ground. "I was trying to rescue a grilled Portobello mushroom that started to slip through the grate... and my hand got a little too close to the rack. And I guess I don't have cat like reflexes after all."

"I take it the mushroom didn't make it?" Veronica asked with a sympathetic smile.

Logan smirked and shook his head. "Still have a small scar on my hand from it," he said as he reached out toward her and pointed to a jagged line that ran on the edge of his hand under his pinky finger toward his wrist.

_Don't think about the other types of scars, Veronica._ She cringed slightly and hoped her reaction didn't seem worse than what would have been expected in regards to the injury he'd sustained from the grill.

"So we've more or less banned him from using the BBQ now," Norris explained with a mischievous expression.

Logan leaned toward Veronica so he could whisper to her quietly enough that Norris couldn't hear him. "I hate cooking, so I'm certainly never going to complain."

Veronica gave him an amused smile and nodded. Considering all the years he lived on room service and all the years before that with cooks or caretakers at the Echolls' estate, it wasn't all that surprising that he didn't really know how, or have any desire to cook now.

Veronica realized that the voices she'd heard earlier were six teenagers playing volleyball in a sandy area not too far from the pool. She recognized one of the girls as Heather, who gave her a quick wave when she realized they had arrived. Veronica saw her say something to another guy she was playing next to before she ran over to see them.

"Hey Norris, Mac," she said as she walked closer to them all. "And I'm so glad you could make it Veronica," she added with a big grin.

"Thanks for asking Logan to invite me," Veronica said with a grateful smile.

"Of course!" Heather replied enthusiastically, still sporting a huge grin on her face. "It's so surreal seeing you again after all these years."

"You should probably get back to your friends, shouldn't you?" Logan asked with a slightly warning tone. Veronica couldn't help but wonder what he was afraid Heather might say.

Heather rolled her eyes at Logan before she spoke again. "Cool your jets, Freckles," she said as she shook her head. "Worried I'm going to say something to embarrass you?" she asked with her eyes narrowed and a mischievous smirk on her lips.

"Terrified," Logan replied in a sarcastic tone as he narrowed his eyes back at her. "Don't forget, I can still ground you and take your car keys away."

Heather glared at him a bit more. "I guess I'll just have to wait until I can catch her alone then," she volleyed back at him. "I'm sure she'd keep it just between us girls." She looked at Veronica and gave her a wink.

Logan took a step toward Veronica and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, surprising her slightly. "Then I guess I'd better be sure I keep on eye on her all evening."

Heather laughed and shook her head. "Challenge accepted old man," she said with an amused smile on her face before she waved at them all and returned to the volleyball game.

Logan quickly removed his arm and gave Veronica an apologetic expression. "Sorry… the two of us sometimes get a little carried away with our competitive nature."

"A little?" Norris interjected as he rolled his eyes. "You two take competition to an Olympic level over even the smallest of things." Mac was standing next to Norris and nodded her head as well.

"We're not that bad are we?" Logan asked, looking at them with a slightly skeptical expression.

"Last week you were arguing over who could boil water for ramen noodles the fastest," Norris said with an appalled expression.

Veronica wasn't so much surprised at the competitive behavior, but was shocked that they'd actually be boiling water for ramen noodles. "Wait what? Ramen noodles?"

Logan shrugged and had a slightly abashed look on his face. "I said I don't like to cook. At least I'm able to make those."

"He has been known to ruin them as well though," Norris added helpfully, earning him a glare and the one-finger salute from Logan.

"So who won?" Veronica asked with an amused smile.

Logan shook his head and looked a little embarrassed. "She did."

Veronica couldn't help but laugh at him. "Let me guess, she started with hot tap water and you started with cold?"

Logan paused for a minute, clearly thinking about it. "Fuck… she must have gotten the water out of the hot water dispenser when I wasn't looking. I even picked the glass pan, which usually boils faster than the metal one, but she still beat me. She's such a little cheat sometimes."

"She probably learned that from you," Norris added, earning him another hand gesture from Logan. "Were you planning on just cooking up whatever the kids scavenge around your yard, or did you actually buy some meat that I'm supposed to be cooking?" Norris asked as he looked at Logan with an amused smile.

Logan narrowed his eyes at Norris and gave him an annoyed glare. "Yeah… I got meat for them… for you… you're out of luck."

Norris laughed and nodded. "Well I hope you remembered to get Mac something vegan too."

Logan gave Mac a friendly smile and nodded. "Actually one of Heather's friends is vegan too, so I did buy something for both of them."

"Any Portobello mushrooms?" Veronica asked with an eager expression. "Now that you mentioned those, I can't help craving one."

Logan gave her a faux injured look and grasped the side of his hand. "Oh sure, I tell you about my painful experience, and all you can think about is how delicious that grilled Portobello would have been? I'm wounded Mars… emotionally and physically."

She laughed and shrugged. "You know me and food. You can't really say you're surprised."

He laughed as well and shook his head. "No, I guess I'm not. And I know Mac loves them too, so yes… I did pick some up, even though I had traumatic flashbacks all the way to the check out line."

"Want Veronica and I to help you bring the food out to the grill?" Mac asked as she looked between Logan and Veronica.

"Sure, that would be great… although you're both guests, so you don't have to…" Logan quickly replied.

"Don't be silly," Mac said as she stepped away from her spot by Norris and walked closer to Logan and Veronica. "We're happy to help, right Veronica?"

Veronica smiled and nodded at both of them. "Plus, after hearing how horrible of a cook you are, I'm not so sure we can even trust you to bring the food out to Norris. You'd probably drop it and pick it back up and not tell anyone."

"What? There's a problem with that?" Logan asked with a playful smile. "I thought there was some 10 second rule or something… or 10 minute rule… I don't know… I've never been all that great with math either."

"I think that's 5 seconds... although maybe 10 for slower people," Veronica replied with a small chuckle. "And if you drop it into something gross, I don't think any seconds count."

"Thanks for the tip," Logan replied with an amused smile as he gestured for the two ladies to lead the way back into the house. Mac took the lead with Veronica following closely behind. Veronica wondered how many times Mac had been over for BBQs like this. She really hadn't gotten a good sense at how close the two of them had been while she was in San Francisco. Mac obviously had been around Logan enough over the years to know some of his dating history when Veronica had asked about it. Mac seemed to know several small tidbits, though clearly not as much as Norris and Brandon seemed to know.

When they reached the kitchen, they found several paper grocery bags spread all over the counters. "You didn't just leave the meat on the counter, did you Logan?" Mac asked with a slightly annoyed tone to her voice. Veronica couldn't help but wonder if he'd done that previously.

"No," he replied with a bit of a scoff. "Cold stuff in the fridge… room temperature stuff just didn't get unpacked yet."

Mac narrowed her eyes at him. "And what do you classify as _room temperature_ foods?"

"I didn't leave the potato salad and yogurt out again if that's what you're asking, _Mac_," Logan replied with a petulant tone.

Mac cocked an eyebrow at him and started looking through the bags. "Cheese is cold food Logan," she scolded as she pulled a package of sliced cheese out of one of the bags. Veronica watched as Mac tested the temperature of it with her hand and then walked over and put it in the fridge. "It still feels pretty cold. Did you just get back from the store?"

Logan shook his head and started pulling chip bags out of another bag. "Um, like an hour ago I guess… I didn't know you moonlighted for the health department now… did they give you a badge?" he replied mockingly.

Mac shook her head and kept going through the bags. She pulled out a couple jars of salsa. "These would have been better in the fridge too, but I'm guessing you were going to take some out soon for the kids?"

Logan nodded as he grabbed a big bowl from one of the cabinets and started pouring chips into it. Veronica glanced at the bag that was closest to her and found some grapes and mini-watermelons. "I'll work on the fruit if you'd like?" Veronica offered, feeling a little sorry for Logan's clueless-ness in the kitchen at that point.

"Thanks," he replied with a grateful smile.

She nodded and pointed to a bowl in the cabinet he was just in. "Can you grab that one for me?" she asked since it was much higher than she could reach.

"Yep," he said as he grabbed it and handed it to her. She was really expecting some sort of short joke, but he passed up the opportunity and went back to filling his bowl with chips.

Mac found the meat and vegan options in the fridge and said she'd take those out for Norris to start cooking and then she'd come back to get the vegetables ready for the grill.

"If I hadn't forgotten about this, I would have just hired someone to cater it," Logan grumbled as Mac disappeared back outside. "Then I wouldn't have had to get lectured by Mac."

"I'm sure she's just trying to be helpful… keep you out of the ER again from getting salmonella or botulism," Veronica offered. "Knives?" she asked next drawing a slightly questioning look from him. "For the watermelon?"

Logan nodded cautiously and pointed to a drawer close to where she was standing. She shook her head and went over to open the drawer. "Did you think I was going to stab you with your own kitchenware?"

He shrugged and gave her a sly smile. "Well it would be a risky move considering there are several witnesses here, but I've never known you to back down from a challenge."

She chuckled and shook her head at him. "Cutting board?" she asked causing him to give her a puzzled look. "You have a cutting board right?"

"I'm sure we do…" he replied spinning around slightly. Mac walked back in at that moment so he turned to her. "I have a cutting board, don't I?"

Mac let out a huff of air and shook her head. "Yes, in that cupboard," Mac replied as she pointed to a cabinet door.

"Oh right," Logan said as Veronica opened it and pulled one out.

"At least he knew where the knives where," Veronica added to show him a little support.

Mac shook her head again and went over to another cabinet to pull out some olive oil and seasoning and started working on some vegetables that were in another bag.

"I'm going to run the chips and salsa out to the patio," Logan announced before he disappeared outside.

"I guess I'm not surprised he's a bit lost in the kitchen," Veronica mused to Mac after he was gone.

"Lost?" Mac replied incredulously. "He's like ground zero for a horrible case of botulism."

"Why doesn't he just hire someone to cook for them?" Veronica pondered as she worked on the watermelon.

Mac shrugged. "He does have a lady who comes in 2-3 times a week to clean and I think she cooks for them sometimes too. Mostly so he makes sure that Heather has decent meals. I think he was a bit reluctant to hire a full-time person because he didn't want to be like his parents. Heather's actually pretty good in the kitchen. I'm sure she made the cake," Mac said as she pointed to a birthday cake sitting in the corner under a glass cover.

Logan appeared a few minutes later as Veronica was finishing up the melons and she asked if he could get another bowl down for those. He gave her a quick smile and grabbed another big one from the top shelf for her. "Heather makes me get things from the top shelves for her too," he said as he handed her the bowl. "We do have a little ladder somewhere around here… maybe the pantry."

"I'm afraid to ask what else you might have in the pantry…" Veronica said as she shook her head.

"That's where we keep the ramen," he whispered back as if it was a huge secret.

She laughed and nodded in reply. Mac was done prepping the vegetables, and carried them out to Norris, while Veronica grabbed the bowl of grapes and Logan grabbed the bowl of watermelon. They followed Mac outside and set the bowls of fruit on the counter a little ways from the grill.

"Would you like a formal tour while Norris finishes up the grilling?" Logan asked with an almost bashful smile.

Veronica smiled and nodded in reply. _This is going so much better than I'd imagined it would. We can definitely do this… this being friends thing._

"There's a pool house right over here, as you can see of course," he said with an abashed look on his face. He led them in that direction which took them near where the teens were all still playing volleyball. "There are some chips and salsa and fruit out on the patio if you guys want any," Logan called out to Heather and her friends, getting a few nods and smiles from them as he continued walking toward the pool house.

There was a large main room in the pool house that was easy to see into because most of the walls were windows or glass doors. It was much more open and streamlined looking than the pool house at his parents' mansion when they were growing up. The room had several crisp looking couches and a table with chairs around it. There was also a big screen TV on one of the interior walls. On the other half of the same structure there was a work-out room, which also had big windows that looked out toward the ocean. She spotted another big TV on the wall in that room too.

Logan and Veronica headed into the house after they were done looking at the pool house. Since she'd already been in the kitchen, he took her in the opposite direction. She took a moment to glance around the large living room that was also right off the foyer where they'd entered the house. She'd passed by it the other times heading out to the pool, but hadn't really spent much time looking around it. There were several large couches and the windows there also looked out toward the large patio and ocean. Against the inner wall there was a large gas fireplace with what she assumed was a flat screen TV mounted above it, but it was the type that could look more like artwork when it wasn't in use. Next they headed down a hall off the foyer and Logan showed off their combination media and video game room. There was quite an impressive electronics setup in the front of the room with a huge collection of video games and movies. Across the hall from that was a billiard room with a fancy dartboard on the wall in addition to the pool table. There were also a couple of old fashioned pinball machines in one corner. The room also had windows that faced out toward the pool and the ocean and it was closer to the pool house than the other parts of the house were. Logan pointed out a bathroom at that end of the house, and then they spent a few minutes in a room that was setup as an office with exquisite built-in dark wood cabinetry and a matching desk.

After they left the office, they headed back toward the entry way again and were at the base of the staircase when suddenly Bex appeared out of a doorway near the top of the stairs. She gave them both a wicked grin as she started walking down toward them.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Logan asked brusquely.

"Well that's not very polite. I thought you were normally a much more gracious host than that... and even in front of your dear Deputy Vicky," Bex replied without losing the nefarious smile. "Looks like you're having a little party. Celebrating me leaving?" she continued before either one of them had a chance to rebuff.

"He should be," Veronica snapped back at her. "I'm sure having you out of his life is definitely worth celebrating."

Bex cocked her eyebrow slightly at Veronica with a look of amusement, though her overall vindictive expression didn't change. "Oh... I'm sure he'll miss me soon enough. Especially once he has a chance to really compare me to the _second-rate_ alternatives."

"I'm sure _any_ alternative would be better than _you_," Veronica replied with contempt. _Even if it's not me..._

"Doubtful… but knowing Logan, he'll enjoy fucking every blonde piece of ass he can get until he realizes it," Bex replied in a vindictive tone. "I know he did that several times during the last year whenever we would break up, but he always came crawling back to me."

Before Veronica could even think of a response or react to Bex's comment, Logan cut her off, circling back to his original question with even more contempt in his tone now "You didn't answer my question, Bex. What the hell are you doing here?"

Bex let out a loud sigh, as if she was totally bored with the conversation now. "No need to get yourself in a tizzy, Logan. I was just stopping by on my way to the airport to find the earring I lost in your bed…" She held up the same diamond and ruby earring that she'd been wearing at the yacht club the day before. "…last night."

As soon as Veronica saw the earring, she instantly recognized it and realized what that meant. _Of course Logan would fall back in bed with her. Wasn't that always his MO when he felt bad about himself? Find some easy piece of ass to screw and of course Bex was more than easy. And here I was trying to defend him._ Veronica felt her heartbeat pounding in her chest so hard that it hurt. _You don't have any right to be upset though… she's his ex-girlfriend, and you're just barely friends with him again._ Veronica's eyes were locked on the earring that Bex was still dangling in front of her chest. She didn't want to look at Logan and see the truth in his eyes. _God, why does this feel exactly like Kendall wrapping her claws around him after alterna-prom? I didn't have any right to him then either, but it still hurts exactly the same. _

Veronica swallowed past the lump that had suddenly lodged itself in her throat. She certainly didn't want either of them to see her react the way she feared she was about to. "I'd better get back and help Norris and Mac," she found herself saying almost as if someone else had taken over her body. Her tone was cold and unemotional. She turned quickly and headed back out toward the pool, so focused on not breaking down that she couldn't hear anything else that Logan and Bex may have been saying.


	27. Chapter 27

_**A/N – Thank you all again for a very large response to the last chapter! I really do appreciate everyone who reads my stories and love it when people take a few minutes to leave me a quick note - and absolutely love the long notes!**_

_**And I once again I owe a huge thank you to Bondopoulos for her amazing beta work! If she'd given the original version of this a title it probably would have been, 'The one where they nod too much'! **_

_**I'm going to be really busy with kid stuff this week and not sure I'll have any time to write, so it may take an extra week to get the next update out. Sorry to make you all wait, but that's how it goes sometimes.**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 27.

When Veronica walked through the door out toward the pool, she was still reeling from what had just happened inside with Logan and Bex. She saw that Norris and Mac were still over by the grill talking and laughing about something and hadn't spotted her yet. She glanced toward the sand where the teens had all congregated and noticed that Brandon and Carmen where there now as well. They must have arrived while she was touring the house with Logan. They were sitting close together on a lounge chair with their backs toward the house, watching the volleyball game. While Brandon had been so supportive before, Veronica's emotions were too raw to deal with talking to anyone right now, so she thought maybe she'd just sneak away to the pool house until she could regain her composure. She started walking quickly toward the other side of the pool, staying near the house, hoping no one would see her. At least all of her prior experience at being stealthy came in handy at moments like these.

There was another door into the house from the billiard room, and she heard it open right after she had passed it and then felt someone gently grab her wrist. Logan must have seen which direction she'd gone from inside the house and headed that direction to cut her off. "Veronica wait," he said with a broken plea as she turned to face him. In addition to his troubled tone, his expressive brown eyes also conveyed how desolate he felt. "Please let me explain."

He gently tugged on her arm and she let him pull her back into the billiard room with him. She was too upset to even consider protesting. She still felt as if her body was just moving of its own accord. Based on the expression on Logan's face, he was as devastated as she felt. He briefly turned away from her to close the door behind them. As much as this hurt, she still knew, deep down, that she didn't have any right to be angry with him. He didn't owe her anything. He wasn't her boyfriend and had made it clear that he had no plans to go down that path again with her. She really had no right to judge him for whomever he let into his bed. Considering how hard he'd been on himself lately, making him feel bad about this surely wasn't going to help matters at all. She took a deep breath and started to talk before she let him get anything else out. "You don't have to say anything Logan... I'm not... we're not… I don't have any right to get upset about you having sex with your ex-girlfriend."

"But I didn't Veronica," he interjected with a sorrowful look on his face. "I know what I said last night… but that doesn't mean that I want you to think of me like that… not again." She narrowed her eyes and looked at him skeptically. "I didn't even come back here last night… because I didn't want to deal with her and I figured she'd show up here… which obviously she did." Veronica still didn't say anything. She really did want to believe him but wasn't sure if she could. Logan must have sensed her reluctance because he continued after pausing for a second. "I stayed on the yacht… just like the night before… I knew she wouldn't make any effort to actually find me if I wasn't here."

_The ruffled bed on the yacht yesterday morning..._ She gave him an understanding smile and nodded. _You need to have faith in him, or there's absolutely no chance you're going to be able to help him believe in himself. Act unnaturally. Trust him, Veronica._ "Okay," she said softly.

"Okay?" He paused for a moment as a confused expression crossed his face. "You believe me?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly, clearly not convinced. _Can you really blame him with how you used to be with him?_

"Yes," she replied giving him a more convincing smile. "I believe you."

"Thank you," he said as he let out a sigh of relief and then wrapped his arms around her in an awkward and unexpected hug.

She let out a deep breath and carefully hugged him back. She could hear his heart pounding in his chest when her head rested against him. She realized that as badly as she felt from misinterpreting what happened, he must have felt even worse being falsely accused yet again by her. She was actually surprised that he didn't react more defensively to the situation. "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions," she said softly against his chest.

He took a deep breath and quickly exhaled. "Well with me, it's not that big of a leap." _And now he's back to tearing himself down again._

"No, Logan," she replied as she shook her head softly against him. "I'm the one who needs to stop making assumptions that always turn out to be wrong."

"I guess there are things we can both work on, huh?" he said as he dropped his arms and then took a step back after she also dropped hers. She could tell that he was still feeling uncomfortable as he nervously ran his hand through his hair, and she wondered if he regretted the impromptu show of affection.

"Yeah, I guess there are. Maybe we can work on them together," she said with a small hopeful smile, trying to sound reassuring.

He smiled a little bit more and pulled his hand down from his head, fidgeting with the edge of his shirt instead. Apparently he was still feeling a bit uneasy. "Yeah… I'd like that."

"Deal," she said as she held her hand out to him. His smile became a bit more genuine and then he reached out his and shook her hand for a second before he pulled back. "We should probably… um…" he gestured with his head toward the pool area.

"Yeah… better go make sure those teens aren't being too unruly out there," she replied with a tender smile.

He nodded in agreement and started to open the door but then paused and turned to face her again. "And really… thank you… for believing me," he said as he looked at her a bit nervously.

"You're welcome," she said softly with a demure smile before he turned back and opened the door. He gestured for her to go first, so she took a deep breath and walked out in front of him.

They headed toward Mac and Norris, who stopped talking and looked at both of them as they approached. "Everything okay?" Mac asked with a suspicious look on her face.

"Yep," Veronica quickly replied with her best 'we'll talk about it later' expression.

"Okay," Mac replied a little hesitantly, but she didn't press for more.

"The meat's just about done, and I was going to throw on the veggies next," Norris said as he started pulling things off the grill and onto a big tray that Mac must have brought out for him to use.

"I forgot to ask if you wanted any drinks," Logan commented as he looked between the three of them. "There are sodas and water out here in the mini-fridge, but I've got some beer inside. Just didn't want to have to worry about one of the kids grabbing one."

"Yeah, I'll take a beer," Norris replied as he continued his diligence with his cooking duty.

"Mac?" Logan asked as he looked at her.

"Sure, I'll take one too."

"Veronica?"

"Sure. Want me to help you carry them out?" she asked with an encouraging smile.

"Yeah… I'll just run over and ask Brandon and Carmen. I see they're here now too."

"Yeah, they got here while you were giving your _grand tour_," Mac explained, still giving them a slightly suspicious look. "They said they heard you talking down in the media room when they walked out here." Veronica wondered if they'd also seen Bex and assumed that there'd been trouble.

"I'll be right back," Logan said as he turned and headed over to where Brandon and Carmen were sitting, watching the volleyball game that was in progress.

"You okay Bond?" Mac asked quietly as she walked closer to Veronica. Veronica nodded in reply before Mac continued. "Brandon said that Bex was just heading upstairs when they walked in. She said she'd lost something that she needed before she caught her flight. Did you two run into her?"

"Yeah, but it's fine now," Veronica said trying to sound reassuring. "There was a slight… misunderstanding… but we sorted it out."

"Okay," Mac replied with a compassionate smile. "I'm so glad that witch is finally gone."

Veronica nodded in agreement. "You and me both."

Logan returned a moment later. "I can probably carry the drinks out on my own if you want to stay out here with Mac and Norris."

Veronica gave him a sly grin. "Oh… that would give me a chance to go talk to Heather…"

Logan laughed softly and shook his head. "I don't think that's necessary," he replied as he put a hand on her shoulder and turned her toward the house. "You wouldn't want me to drop the beer bottles or something even more tragic, now would you?"

"Nope," she replied back as she laughed softly. "I'm sure I'll be able to catch up with her later."

"And I'm sure, after that little threat, that I'm going to stick to you like glue the rest of the evening," he replied with a mischievous grin.

"Thanks for the warning," she teased as they headed into the house.

When they reached the kitchen, Veronica noticed a key sitting on the edge of the counter that hadn't been there earlier. He picked it up and dropped it into one of the drawers near the edge of the kitchen.

"No more unexpected visits?" she couldn't help asking, if for no other reason than to prevent an awkward silence from setting in. She of course was too smart to not know where it came from, and he'd know that was true as well.

He gave her an uncomfortable smile and nodded. "Of course being over 5000 miles away will help with that too." He took a deep breath before he spoke again. "It didn't start out like that... her and I. I don't know when it changed… but somewhere along the way I guess she figured out my weaknesses and started exploiting them."

Veronica gave him an understanding smile. "Lots of people end up in situations like that. It's not always easy to just walk away when you still want to believe that you weren't wrong for being with them in the first place."

"Yeah... but I really should have known better... considering my mom and..." He let out a deep breath as his expression turned darker. "Well you know..."

Veronica looked at him compassionately. "You didn't have an annoying tiny blonde one around to keep you in line, but now you do," she told him with an encouraging smile.

She watched as he seemed to feel a little bit more at ease and the anger that was in his expression eased away. "That's an awfully large job for even you," he replied in a mocking tone.

"Obviously someone needs to do it and I never back down from a challenge." Her tone had become a bit more playful and she could tell it was helping him relax more too.

"Well I appreciate your willingness to try," he replied with a genuine smile.

She looked at him a little more seriously. "Will you promise that no matter what happens… that you'll at least try to listen to me… even when you may not immediately agree?" She had tried to imagine what likely would have happened even if she had been there when he started dating Bex. She had decided that even if she had tried to tell him Bex was bad for him, he might not have actually listened. She really did want to be a good friend to him. She wanted to protect him, but knew if he wasn't willing to listen to her, she didn't stand much of a chance at success.

His lip turned up into a half smile as he studied her a bit more closely as well. "If you promise to do the same," he replied as one of his eyebrows rose up.

"I did about Sebastian… eventually…" she reminded him with a knowing look.

He nodded in agreement and then his lips turned into more of a mischievous grin. "Pinky promise?" he asked as he held out his bent pinky finger toward her.

She laughed and shook her head. Lilly used to make them pinky promise all the time when they were in middle school. "We're not twelve anymore Logan," she replied with a mocking tone as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Pinky promise…" he repeated again, the mischievous grin unchanged.

"Fine," she replied with a slight chuckle as she reached out her own pinky finger to shake his. "You're ridiculous sometimes, you know that?"

"Yeah, I do happen to know that." He pulled his hand away and opened the refrigerator and pulled out three bottles of beer for her to carry and three for him. He also reached into a drawer near the fridge and grabbed a bottle opener.

"Too fancy for twist off?" she teased. He shook his head and rolled his eyes at her.

"Come on, annoying tiny blonde one. People are likely parched out there waiting for these," he replied as he started walking back out toward the patio.

Brandon and Carmen had come up to the patio from the sand and they both gave Veronica a friendly greeting since they hadn't spoken yet. Brandon had a slightly concerned look on his face, but didn't question Veronica at all. Since the food was about ready, Logan walked toward the group of teens to let them know they could come up to eat, while the other five adults passed around the bottle opener to open their drinks. Logan walked back over just as they'd finished, and he grabbed his own bottle that Veronica had opened for him.

"To good friends," Logan said with a warm smile as he held up his beer bottle. The other five repeated the toast and clinked their bottles together. Veronica noticed Logan's gaze stayed on her a little longer than the rest, and she gave him a warm smile before she took a drink of her beer.

The teenagers came up and loaded up their plates with food, and then retreated back to the lounge chairs that were set up around the volleyball pit. The six adults all sat around the large table on the patio to enjoy the meat and vegetables that Norris had cooked up, along with all of the other side dishes that Mac had brought out while Logan was showing Veronica the house. The conversation centered mostly on an expansion that the foundation Carmen worked for was trying to get funded.

"With all the wealthy families in Neptune, I would think it would be fairly easy to get donations," Brandon pondered out-loud while he listened to Carmen.

"The 09ers tend to like to keep their money, unless it benefits them in some way," Veronica said a bit skeptically.

"Publicity about charity-giving would be good for anyone though, right?" Brandon asked as he looked around the table.

"You would think," Mac chimed in. "Although I know it can be tough to get them interested."

Carmen nodded. "We've been brainstorming ideas. Of course things like galas and fancy dinners take money to actually pull together. Especially in the beginning. It's easy to spend so much on that, that you won't actually make any money for the charity."

"We could always auction off some hunky deputies and firemen," Mac suggested with a leering wink at Norris.

"Oh sure, that's easy for you to say," Logan interrupted as he shook his head. "I hate to imagine what would happen if we did that. I mean seriously, I'm sure we'd each get bought by some bitter old divorcées… like Celeste Kane or Mrs. Hauser."

Veronica shuddered as she thought about how horrible that would actually be for any of them. "I attended a wine tasting fund raiser in San Francisco that was held at a really nice vineyard. The vineyard was looking for exposure too, so they donated quite a bit to help out. A few catering companies got involved too," Veronica suggested.

"That sounds like a promising idea," Carmen replied enthusiastically. "We've thought about asking for services or goods that could be auctioned off too, like surf lessons or boating trips."

As the group continued discussing other possible ideas, the teenagers came back up to the patio. "We're going to go in and play pool for a little while," Heather announced to Logan as they stacked their dishes on the outdoor kitchen counter near the BBQ grill.

"Don't forget the house rule," Logan warned Heather with the paternal tone that Veronica still wasn't used to hearing.

Heather let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. "I said we were going to play pool…" she replied sounding irritated.

"Heather…" he reiterated again in the same tone he'd just used.

"I know… no boys upstairs." Heather said a bit reluctantly as she shook her head and continued into the house.

"Thank you," he called out toward her retreating back.

Veronica cocked an eyebrow at him, slightly surprised by his lecture. "What?" Logan asked as he saw Veronica's expression. "We both know how much trouble teenage boys can be," he added with a devious wink.

She chuckled and shook her head at him.

The six adults finished up their food and then they all started helping with cleaning up. They grabbed as many dirty dishes as they could carry and headed back inside to the kitchen. Brandon and Carmen volunteered to rinse and load the dishwasher while the other four continued carrying things in from the patio. Veronica thought it was cute how Brandon and Carmen worked together. She enjoyed overhearing their mild playful banter whenever she'd come back inside with more dishes or leftovers.

"I'm going to go check on the kids," Logan announced as they brought in the last of the dirty plates. "Wanna join me?" he asked Veronica a little more quietly than when he said where he was going. _He really was planning to stick to her like glue, wasn't he?_

She nodded and followed him down the hallway to the billiard room again. Heather and a guy, who she assumed was Colton were sitting on one of the couches watching their friends play. Colton had his arm around Heather's shoulder and his other one resting on her thigh. As soon as Logan walked in, he loudly asked how everything was going and shot a glare in Colton's direction. Veronica tried not to laugh as Colton pulled both of his arms back in and crossed them in front of himself. Heather shot an annoyed look at Logan.

"Well it _was_ going fine," Heather replied as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I thought you were going to do the whole cake thing when we finished eating?" Logan asked, not letting Heather's demeanor change his tone.

"We'll be right out after this game is over," Heather replied, giving Logan what Veronica could only assume was her 'get lost' face.

Logan let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine… but it's a school night, so I don't want your friends here too late."

Heather rolled her eyes again. "I know… thanks…" she said as she was obviously waiting for him to leave.

Veronica found it extremely amusing to watch Logan play the overbearing father figure. He finally relented and gave Colton one last glare before heading back out of the room.

"You'll probably find this amusing, but I try to think of what your dad would do when I talk to her sometimes," Logan said with a smirk as they walked back down the hall.

"Really?" Veronica asked with a chuckle. Of course Logan had certainly experienced more of her dad's fatherly wrath than any of her other boyfriends had.

"Yeah… he was the best role model of a good father that I knew growing up… so I guess I try to think of things he did so I don't let her get too screwed up… I mean… you turned out so well… I figured it couldn't hurt." She gave him a curious look. She wasn't sure if that second to last part was sarcasm or not. He must have noticed. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing…"

"Veronica?" he asked with a sterner look on his face.

"Fine, I wasn't sure if you were being sarcastic about the whole 'turning out well' comment."

He laughed softly and shook his head. "I was being serious. Look at you…. you're a successful Stanford graduate and a really good detective… which sort of makes me wonder why you wanted to come work at the Sheriff's department… I would think you could easily get on with the SDPD or even LAPD if you just wanted to be back closer to your dad."

Veronica shrugged. "I don't know… something just made me want to come back and work in Neptune."

He smiled and nodded. "Well I for one am really glad that you did. I know things have been a bit bumpy between us since you've been back, but I'm still really glad that you're here."

"Me too," she said with a soft smile. "Now that we've been able to clear the air more… maybe it will get easier." _Now that I know you have absolutely no intention of ever getting back together with me that is._

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right." He paused before he spoke again. "I'm really glad to have you as a friend again. I missed you while you were gone."

"I… missed you too," Veronica replied quietly, although she was instantly frustrated by the hesitancy in her own voice. _Why even after all this time, am I still so guarded when it comes to him? Why do I always fall back into that same mindset? It's no wonder that he has no confidence that we'd work out if we tried again. I haven't really shown him that I've changed a bit where he's concerned. _

She decided to try again. _Maybe if I put myself out there a little, he'll notice. Maybe then he'll start to believe I've changed and that we could actually be more than just friends._ "I really mean it Logan. I'm happy that you're a part of my life again after all this time," she said earnestly with a more confident smile, pleased when she received a similar look from him in return.

They had made it back down the hall to where the living room was located and found their friends spread out on the couches. Each couple appeared to be having their own little discussion with their respective date.

"I think Carmen and I are going to take off," Brandon announced as Logan and Veronica walked farther into the room. "She's got an early meeting tomorrow and I have a pretty early shift too."

"But we didn't have cake yet," Logan replied, clearly not eager to start loosing the adult guests.

"Yeah, but the dinner was excellent," Carmen added with a warm smile. "Thanks so much for the invitation."

Logan nodded and gave them an understanding look. As Brandon and Carmen started to stand up to head toward the door, Norris gave Logan a sheepish look too.

"Not you too?" Logan asked with a sigh as he looked at Norris.

Norris shrugged. "Not that we don't enjoy your company, but I think Mac and I are going to take off too." Norris shot a quick look at Veronica and Logan's mood seemed to instantly deflate.

The disappointed look on Logan's face was impossible to misread. She didn't want to end her evening with him yet, especially since it seemed obvious that he didn't want her to leave already either. "I'll stick around and help you with the ruffians if you can drive me home later," Veronica offered with a tender smile and Logan's expression immediately brightened again.

"Yes… thank you… I really didn't want to be stuck with just me and all six of them," he replied quickly. Veronica smiled at Logan and nodded. Mac raised an eyebrow for a second until Veronica gave her a knowing look. Veronica hoped that she'd gotten the message across that she'd be fine there on her own with Logan. It must have worked because Mac's expression softened as she gave Veronica a small smile.

They all said quick goodbyes, and a few minutes later, Logan and Veronica found themselves alone again. "Thanks for staying," he reiterated after the others were gone and they had taken a seat on one of the couches in the living room, leaving a considerable amount of space between the two of them.

"Of course... I'd feel guilty if you did something questionable to Colton anyway," she teased. "Especially given you seem to be trying to channel my dad as your role model. Who knows what sort of liability that might entail. Plus… who leaves a party before cake?"

Logan chuckled softly and nodded. "I know right? It's not like I'm the one that made the cake… although maybe I should have clarified that," he replied thoughtfully. She laughed and nodded her head in agreement. They sat in silence for a moment, and just as Veronica was starting to worry that this might be the point when things started getting awkward, Logan spoke again. "Did you want another beer, or something else to drink? I've got wine, juice, soda… anything sound good?"

"I'll take another beer," she replied. He stood up to go back to the kitchen, with her following behind him. Once she got into the kitchen, she decided to take a seat at one of the counter stools.

He opened the fridge and pulled out two beers, located the bottle opener again and popped off the caps. He stayed on the inside of the counter but leaned across it toward her as he handed her a bottle.

"No toast this time?" she asked as she studied him carefully.

He shrugged. "I guess I'm out of witty repertoire at the moment."

She laughed and shook her head. "_To good friends_ was supposed to be witty?" she asked with a teasing tone.

He laughed and shrugged again, looking a bit abashed by her comment. She gave him a thoughtful look. "To epic friendships," she said a bit wistfully as she held her bottle up toward him. _If we can't have epic love, maybe we can figure out how to at least be epic friends instead. _

He gave her a slightly sentimental smile before he clinked his bottle against hers and repeated it. They'd only taken a couple sips of their drinks before they heard the teens heading down the hall toward the kitchen.

"What happened to the others?" Heather asked as she led the group into the area around the kitchen.

"They needed to take off," Logan explained. "But Veronica stayed because she wanted to taste your amazing cake."

Heather smiled and looked pleased about that. She went over to a drawer and started digging through it until she found a box of candles and started pulling them out to put them on the cake. Once she had inserted 17 candles, which took up a fair amount of the cake, she moved it over to the large dining table in the space next to the kitchen. She pulled a lighter out of her pocket to light them, which drew a disapproving look from Logan.

"Chill out," Heather said to him when she must have noticed the look as well. "I grabbed it from the cabinet in the billiard room where you keep your cigar stuff so I could light the candles."

"Fine," Logan replied, though his voice still sounded a bit suspicious. Heather lit the candles and once she was done, Logan held out his hand to take the lighter back. Heather rolled her eyes slightly as she handed it to him, but the look quickly disappeared as they all started to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Colton.

"Can you grab some ice cream?" Heather asked Logan as she pulled out a knife to start cutting the cake. He nodded and went to the freezer to pull out the ice cream, grabbing a scoop from one of the drawers.

Heather started cutting the cake and putting it on small plates that she'd also grabbed from the kitchen while Logan offered scoops of ice cream. Heather suggested that they go back out to the patio to eat, and as each of the teens got their cake and ice cream they headed out there to wait for Heather.

"Can you run these cups and a pitcher of ice water out there?" Heather asked Logan as she worked on putting the rest of the cake back in the kitchen.

"Sure," he said as he grabbed the cups she'd pointed to and grabbed a pitcher of water from the counter that just needed some ice added to it. He disappeared out toward the patio a few moments later.

"So how are you enjoying being back in Neptune," Heather asked Veronica as she carried the rest of the cake back to where she'd originally had it sitting and then leaned against the counter, facing out toward the back of the house and the patio.

"It's been pretty good… some adjusting though since I've been gone so long," Veronica answered.

"How long _have_ you been back?" Heather asked next, watching Veronica more carefully now.

"A little over two weeks."

Heather nodded and looked a bit thoughtful about Veronica's answer. "That makes sense. He started acting a little different about then."

"Different how?" Veronica asked, curious as to what Heather meant.

Heather shrugged. "I don't know… just different. Maybe a little more strict with me and less tolerant of things that Bex was doing."

Veronica glanced back out toward the patio and saw that Logan was talking to a couple of the kids. It didn't look as if he would be returning anytime soon.

"What sort of things was Bex doing?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Heather made a concerned face before she finally answered. "She would sometimes do drugs with some of her model and celebrity friends, and of course Logan didn't approve of that." Veronica flashed back for a moment to the argument she'd heard Logan have with Bex on the phone. That must have been why he was upset about wherever it was Bex had gone the night before he'd talked to her. "I'd hear them argue about it sometimes… and I know she'd try to get him to do some with her too, but I don't think he ever did… not after…" Heather paused and shook her head.

"What?" Veronica asked, trying to encourage her again.

Heather shrugged and looked out to the patio again. "I shouldn't say anything… I'm not sure he even realizes that I know…"

Veronica studied her for a minute. "After the incident with Dick?" Veronica prompted, wondering if that was what Heather hadn't wanted to say.

Heather nodded. "Dick would sometimes still stop by and _visit_ my sister before I started living with Logan. I saw him a few weeks after that… and heard a bit of it when he was talking to Mel." She paused and her expression became more troubled. "Logan wouldn't talk to me much around that time… I guess it was right at the end of his freshman year of college… well more the end of the summer before he should have gone back to Hearst again that it started." She nervously glanced back out toward the patio. "I know he never wanted me to see him like that… but it wasn't hard to figure out what was going on from what I'd hear from Dick and all the cancelled gaming sessions with Logan. We'd gotten into a routine of playing online almost every Wednesday night and then something happened… even before the fight with Dick… and then he started canceling on me all the time. He'd call sometimes and sound really out of it… but would apologize and say maybe we'd be able to do it the next week. Then he got to where he just wouldn't even call." The expression on Heather's face had become more heartbroken the longer she spoke. She glanced back at the patio and saw that Logan must have been coming back in and her expression instantly changed to a broad smile.

"Thanks," she said to Logan as she grabbed her own plate of cake and ice cream and started heading out to the patio. "Thanks also for letting me have them all over." She stopped in front of him and gave him a hug, standing there for longer than Logan may have expected based on the expression on his face.

"Sure, anytime kiddo," Logan said back as he loosely wrapped his arms around her shoulders for a minute. "You'd better get back out to your guests." Heather took a step back and nodded.

Logan walked back toward the counter after Heather had exited to the patio. "Everything okay in here?" Logan asked, giving Veronica a suspicious look.

Veronica nodded and took a bite of her cake and ice cream. He walked closer to the counter and picked up his own plate. "You know when you used to answer without saying actual words, I never completely believed you," he said as a disbelieving look remained on his face. _He probably has a good point. I did avoid actual answers by doing that a lot back then._

She gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry… she asked me how I liked being back… and how long I've been back for." She wasn't sure if getting into more details than that would actually do any good, and she didn't want to risk ruining the renewed companionability that was starting to develop between them again.

Logan was studying her carefully as she spoke. "Well that's a start," he replied. "I suppose it's my own fault for leaving you two in here alone."

"I can tell she's very fond of you," Veronica added, hoping that might convey enough for him to drop the topic.

He nodded before he spoke. "Yeah, that goes both ways."

"I can tell that too," Veronica replied with a tender smile. It was actually very heartwarming to see how much he did care about Heather with the way he played the over-protective father figure role.

"Want to join them on the patio, or we could sit in the living room if you'd rather," he said as he poked at his cake with his spoon.

"Inside would be fine. I'm sure they'd rather not have you hovering again," Veronica replied with a teasing grin.

"At least I didn't offer to show him my sidearm," Logan responded with a chuckle. "Hey, speaking of guns… Norris, Doug and I sometimes go shooting at the gun range after work on Mondays if we're not working too late. Did you want to go with us tomorrow? I have a standing reservation for one of the private areas."

"Sure, that would be great. I haven't had a chance to practice since I've been back," Veronica replied as she followed him into the living room.

"I should probably also warn you that we have a tradition that whoever does the worst has to buy a round of drinks afterwards. We usually end up at a bar that's close to where Norris and Brandon live."

"The Wild Hare?" Veronica asked without giving it a second thought.

Logan gave her a curious look and nodded. "I didn't realize you'd been there."

_Honesty Veronica, you know if you lie things can always come back to bite you._ "Yeah, that's where I had a bit too much to drink before you saw me on Catalina last week. I went there with Norris, Mac and Brandon."

Logan gave her a grim smile before he spoke again. "Yeah… after our fight on the phone, right?"

She shrugged and nodded in response. "Yeah, but that's in the past."

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I'm sorry… for hurting you like that. I know I was being an asshole, and I really don't have any excuse that makes it okay."

"Don't worry about it… although I do appreciate the apology…" she still wondered if he'd ever told Bex who she really was. _But now that Bex is gone, does that really even matter anymore?_ She decided a change in topic would probably be better than continuing down this path. "So who usually ends up buying the drinks, or are you three pretty evenly matched?"

Logan smiled and laughed slightly. Veronica assumed that he was thankful for the change in subject as well. "I think Doug is probably the worst out of the three of us, though I've had to buy a round or two, as has Norris."

"And how do you decide? Do you go closest to a bullseye, or are there other rules that you go by?"

"Yeah, at the very end, we usually have a round of shooting where we are just trying to get the closest to the bullseye to decide who has to buy the drinks. We each fire off one shot and then we see who gets closest to their center mark," Logan explained. "It's easier than trying to rate our other rounds and shots."

"Sounds like fun," Veronica said as she took the last bite of her cake and ice cream. "And Heather's cake was _delicious_," she commented as she licked the last bit of it off her spoon.

Logan nodded as he finished his off too. "Yeah, she really is a much better cook than I could ever hope to be."

"If you really want to learn to cook better, I could give you some lessons," Veronica found herself offering before she had really even given it any thought.

Logan's lips curled up into a heartfelt smile. "Yeah, actually… I think I'd like that. No one has ever offered to help me with that before. Well Heather said that she'd teach me once, but then got frustrated the first time she tried and said I was hopeless."

Veronica laughed for a moment and nodded her head. "Of course with great power comes great responsibility…" she added in a teasing tone.

"I promise to only use the power for good," Logan responded with a smirk on his lips.


	28. Chapter 28

_**A/N – Thank you all again for the reviews on the last chapter! I really do appreciate everyone who reads my stories and love it when people take a few minutes to leave me a quick note – and I absolutely love the long notes!**_

_**No promises on a weekly chapter update for a while. Hopefully it won't be more than every two weeks, but summer just seems to be keeping me really busy. I have another story that I've started and I have a few chapters done on, so I might use that as filler if I can't get an update done on any of the other stories. I was planning to wait until I finished one of the other 3, but given my limited time right now, I'm considering slowly releasing that one earlier.**_

_**And once again I want to say thank you to Bondopoulos for her wonderful beta work! **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 28

Veronica woke up feeling better than she had in days. While the rest of the previous night hadn't gone as she'd anticipated at all, it hadn't really been bad either. Four of Heather's friends had left shortly after they had cake, leaving Logan, Veronica, Heather and Colton. When Heather had announced that she was going to drive Brandon home, Logan didn't exactly agree with that plan. He'd told Heather that since he needed to give Veronica a ride home that he'd just take Colton for her. After some slight bickering back and forth, Logan finally won the argument, but Heather went along too. Veronica's dad's house was closer than Colton's, so they dropped her off first. She was a little disappointed that she hadn't gotten to spend much time alone with Logan, but at least the night seemed to end on a positive note for the two of them, which hadn't been happening much in the past week.

She'd gotten so used to her dad not being around that she was actually startled when he walked into the kitchen while she was in the middle of cooking some bacon and eggs for herself.

"For me?" he asked as he walked up to her and glanced over her shoulder at what she was cooking. She chuckled and shook her head.

"I didn't even hear you come in last night," Veronica commented as she transferred the cooked food from the pans to her plate.

"Yeah… I…" he stammered for a moment.

Veronica laughed again. "You came home this morning while I was in the shower didn't you?"

Keith gave her a sheepish grin and nodded. "Yeah, I needed to pick up a few things before I headed into the office."

"I'm guessing Alicia made you something even better than this for breakfast, didn't she?" Veronica asked with a suspicious expression.

Keith shrugged, but his smile was mischievous. "So, how'd your BBQ at Logan's go last night?" He asked, his expression becoming more judgmental.

"What makes you think it was at Logan's?" Veronica asked curiously.

"Apparently your self-proclaimed BFF was a bit put out that you bailed on family dinner night to go to Logan's with Mac," Keith replied with a smug grin.

Veronica shook her head. She hadn't even thought about how good of friends Mac and Wallace had become and how much Mac might share with him. "Tattle tale," she said with a sly grin, causing Keith to laugh.

"So, how did it go?" he asked again. She could tell that he probably wasn't going to just drop it this time by his demeanor.

"It was fine actually… thanks for asking," she said as she sat down at the table with her eggs and bacon, after snagging two pieces of toast from the toaster when she walked by.

"Things going better between the two of you?" Keith asked next.

Veronica nodded as she swallowed the bite of toast and eggs she just took. "Yeah… I think we've finally worked through some of the issues we were having." _And his evil bitch of a girlfriend is finally gone too._

"Okay…" Keith replied sounding a little hesitant. "You know I just don't want you to get hurt again."

Veronica shook her head slowly as she looked up at him. "I know Logan did some things that hurt me in the past, but looking back, I think I probably did more that actually hurt him in even worse ways."

Keith gave her a confused expression. "You were both just teenagers though, sweetheart. I'm sure you didn't hurt him intentionally."

Veronica shrugged as she swallowed a bite of bacon. "But I knew things he'd been through too and I could have certainly treated him better than I did."

"Well… I still hope you're careful where he's concerned," Keith replied with a sterner look on his face.

Veronica shook her head again. "Don't worry too much about it… We're just trying to figure out how to be friends… nothing more." _Of course Logan's idea, not mine._

Her dad gave her a skeptical look, but nodded. "It's not that I think Logan's a bad guy, honey… I guess I just doubt the two of you will stay 'just friends' long, and I would hate for you to get into a really difficult situation since you're working with him now."

"Thanks… but I'm sure it won't lead to that," Veronica said firmly before she took another bite of bacon. _Again, Logan's idea, not mine._

Keith gave her a grim smile and nodded in understanding. "Well I need to head into the office to meet a client. You going to be home tonight for dinner?"

Veronica shook her head. "I don't think so… I'm supposed to go shooting after work with some of the other deputies, and I'm not sure what we are doing after that."

"Okay… well hopefully we can spend some father-daughter time together soon," Keith said as he placed a quick kiss on her forehead and then left.

Well it's certainly not hard to tell how he would feel about me dating Logan again. Veronica finished off the rest of her breakfast so she could head to the station. She was just about to climb into her car when a text message came through on her phone.

'I'm stopping at the Hut for coffee. Want one?' the text from Logan said. She smiled to herself as she typed in a reply that she did. 'Scone?' came through a moment later. Even though she'd just eaten, she couldn't pass up on one of the delicious scones from the Hut and figured she could just save it for later. She sent back a quick, 'of course', which was met with a quick 'what was I thinking' in reply. She let out a happy sigh as she climbed into her car and made her way to the station. _This is so much better than last week was._

She'd already taken a seat at her desk when Logan arrived with two coffees and a small white bag. He gave her a warm smile as he walked over and placed one of the coffees and the bag on her desk. Norris and Doug hadn't arrived yet, so Logan leaned against her desk and sipped on his own coffee.

"Thanks again for coming over yesterday," Logan said as he fidgeted slightly with the sleeve around his coffee cup.

"Of course, I had a good time. It was also great getting to spend a little time with Heather. I know I said this before, but I think you're doing a great job with her."

He looked slightly embarrassed as he shrugged. "I'm not sure I've done that great of a job, but thanks."

"Good morning you two," Norris interjected as he arrived and joined them.

Veronica and Logan both said a quick good morning to him before Logan stood up from leaning against Veronica's desk and headed to his own. Norris eyed them both a bit suspiciously but didn't make any other comments. Doug arrived a few minutes later and shortly after that calls started coming in.

"Looks like it's going to be a busy Monday," Norris commented after finishing with the call he just answered.

It was close to 1:00 before Norris and Veronica made it back to the station again. Veronica hadn't brought anything to eat for lunch and was debating what she should get to eat just as Logan and Doug came back in from their latest call.

"I could run over to the deli and get sandwiches for everyone," Logan suggested after dropping off some things on his desk.

Norris and Doug said that sounded great and Veronica nodded in agreement as well. "Want some help?" she asked as Logan grabbed a notepad to write down everyone's orders.

"Sure," he said with a warm smile. He jotted down what Norris and Doug wanted, and also checked with a few of the other deputies and assistants that were in the office. Leo had a meeting with the DA, so while he had been in the office for a short time that morning, he'd been gone for quite some time and hadn't returned yet.

"So, Colton made it home _safely_?" Veronica asked with a teasing tone as they were walking across the street toward the deli.

Logan chuckled in response. "Yes… I returned him home in the same condition that he was in after we dropped you off. I even let Heather walk to the door with him to say good night." He paused a moment and gave her a wicked smile. "And I managed to count to fifty before I honked the horn."

Veronica practically snorted when she laughed, finding it hilarious and likely also true, based on how he'd acted earlier at the house. "I'm sure she _loved_ that," Veronica commented sarcastically as he opened the door at the deli for her to walk in ahead of him. She was still laughing to herself as she imagined how that probably went down when she practically ran into someone about to come out of the deli.

"Hey Veronica," the person said with a warm smile on his face until he noticed Logan was the one holding the door open.

"Sebastian…" Veronica replied, caught slightly off guard running into him there and not having any idea what to say or do.

Veronica felt Logan move slightly closer to her, to the point of his side pressing up against hers. Sebastian looked between Logan and Veronica. He must have realized that trying to work on patching things up with her wasn't a good idea at that moment and the hopeful look when he first saw her had completely vanished.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to nearly run you down. I was just grabbing a sandwich on my way from the DA's office back to my own," Sebastian said, his expression growing even more uneasy.

"It's fine," Veronica answered softly. She still hadn't gotten over what Logan had told her about Sebastian and Elise. Nor did she really believe Sebastian when he'd tried to tell her that Logan had just misinterpreted what he had seen.

"Could I talk to you outside for a second?" Sebastian asked looking directly at Veronica with an almost pleading expression.

Logan either didn't like the idea of Veronica talking to Sebastian or took her lack of an immediate response as a sign that she didn't want to talk to him. Either way, he interjected before Veronica had a chance to say anything. "That's not happening Townsend. If you have something to say to Veronica, you can just say it in front of me."

Sebastian kept looking at Veronica, likely waiting for her reaction. She really didn't want a scene to unfold right there in the deli. "I'm sorry Sebastian, but I don't have time right now to talk."

Sebastian nodded. "I understand… I really hope you thought about what I told you when we talked on the phone. Things aren't exactly how they seem sometimes."

Veronica instantly felt guilty. Hadn't she been doing essentially the same thing to Logan over the past two weeks? Judging Logan for how she interpreted things and not how they actually were. _If I'm giving Logan the benefit of a doubt, shouldn't I also give it to Sebastian? I didn't actually see what happened between Sebastian and Elise. I was only going off of what Logan said he saw and he was clearly a bit out of it on painkillers that afternoon_. "I'll give you a call when I have more time," she said, hoping that would end things for now, at least.

"Alright," Sebastian replied a bit reluctantly. "I hope to hear from you soon," he added before he continued on his way out of the deli.

Veronica glanced up at Logan and noticed he seemed to look a bit remorseful. "Hey, I'm sorry…" he mumbled out. "I shouldn't have butted in between the two of you again."

She let out a small huff. "Oh don't worry. If I'd actually cared that you'd interjected, I would have let you know." Her confident smirk must have made him feel better because the tentative look that had been on his face was replaced with a more relaxed smile.

The rest of their shift was as busy after lunch as it had been before, so the day went by remarkably fast. Leo had let them know earlier that the M.E. was tied up testifying in a court case and wouldn't be able to look at the evidence until the following day. Consequently, there wasn't anything new for them to do on the Donaldson case. While Norris and Veronica were coming back in from a call, Brandon had sent Norris a message that several of the firefighters wanted to get together to play pool that evening. Norris mentioned it to Logan when they got back to the station, and the four of them agreed they'd just go to Callahan's after the shooting range, rather than the Wild Hare.

After each team going out on a couple more calls, they all finally made it back to the station to finalize their plans for going to the shooting range. Veronica had initially said that she'd just meet them all there after going home to change clothes, but Logan had pointed out that there wasn't a lot of parking at the gun club and it wasn't really practical for them to take multiple cars out there. It was on the very south part of town, and a bit of a drive. Logan said he'd pick Veronica up while Doug agreed to pick up Norris and then meet the other two at Callahan's where he'd leave his car for later. Veronica had suggested that she could do the same so Logan wouldn't have to drive her home later, but he had objected to her plan and insisted it wouldn't be a problem to play _chauffer_ for her. Of course he received an eye roll and a grumble from Veronica for the sarcastic reply.

She was a little surprised to find her dad there when she went home to take a quick shower and change. Backup was there as well and gave her an enthusiastic greeting as she walked in the front door.

"What happened to 'shooting after work'?" Keith asked as she walked into the living room. He was sitting on the couch with a few files on the table in front of him, looking through another one that was on his lap.

"Still going. Just a pit stop to shower and change," she said as she started heading toward the hallway. She knew she wasn't going to have a lot of time until Logan was due to arrive and didn't want to chance having to leave him alone with her dad while she was still showering. She would have had plenty of time, but the three guys took off a few minutes before she did and one of the assistance had asked her to help look for a missing file. With that delay, she knew she was already going to be very pressed to be ready by the time Logan arrived.

"Got a few minutes?" he asked with a hopeful look.

"Um…" She glanced down at her wrist, where there wasn't actually a watch.

"I get it… too busy for your old man," he replied with a put out expression.

"It's just that I'm being picked up and don't want to keep them waiting," she explained, hoping that would be enough to make him not feel like she was being rude.

"I'd hate to keep your _date_ waiting," he said in teasing tone.

She laughed and shook her head. "It's not a date… there are four of us going shooting…"

"Just because you haven't been around much in the last four years, doesn't mean I can't still read you like a book. Logan's picking you up and you don't want him to have to wait alone with me," Keith stated bluntly.

She let out a deep breath and shook her head again. "And what makes you say that?"

"You have a certain look you always get when there's a chance of Logan and I interacting. It's still there… even after all these years." Keith paused and gave her a pointed look. "I know he's not the same boy he was back then, Veronica. He's a respected deputy now. Even though this morning I said I didn't want you getting hurt, that doesn't mean that I don't think he's a worthy suitor… I should have clarified that. It's just that the protective father in me sometimes still thinks back to the trouble you two had growing up. I need to realize you are both very different people now. Even if you two are _just friends_."

She gave him a tender smile and walked back over to give him a hug and kiss on the head. "Thanks… it means a lot to hear that."

Keith nodded and smiled fondly back at her. "Okay… go take your shower so you don't keep him waiting." Veronica nodded and headed back down the hall to her room.

Unfortunately Wallace called right before she made it into the shower and she felt guilty that he'd been upset about her going to Logan's the night before rather than family dinner night. She decided that she'd better do some damage control and talked to him for several minutes before she finally said she needed to go, and jumped into the shower.

Of course talking to Wallace made it even less likely that she would be ready before Logan got there. She tried to be as quick as possible, but still heard two male voices coming from the kitchen when she finally made it back down the hall. She listened for a moment to see what they were talking about before walking in. _Old habits die hard._ It sounded like they were actually discussing a case. As she turned the corner, she spotted them both leaning against the kitchen counter, looking at a folder that was open on the counter.

"Have you talked to the D.A. or Leo?" Logan asked as Veronica quietly walked into the room.

Keith shook his head. "Nope. I'll probably head down to talk to Leo tomorrow and show him the pictures. I sort of stumbled across it working on another case and was wondering if it's enough for a warrant."

Veronica watched as Logan nodded. "I know Leo's had suspicions about that place for a while now, but we haven't been able to get any proof that there's anything illegal going on there. This certainly could be the break we need though. I'm sure Leo and the D.A. will be happy to see these."

Backup was standing next to Logan, and Logan was absentmindedly scratching his head as he looked at the photographs on the counter with Keith. Backup must have spotted Veronica because he ran over to see her, causing Logan to look in her direction as well.

"Sorry I wasn't ready when you arrived. Wallace called and I needed to talk to him for a little while," Veronica explained with an apologetic expression.

"Don't worry about it. Your dad was showing me some shots he took outside a club that we've been suspicious about. It definitely looks like there's been some drug deals going down there, and one of the club owners looks to be a primary dealer."

"Well, I guess we should get going so we can pick up Norris and Doug," Veronica said as she grabbed her purse, gun case and a light jacket.

"Have fun you two. I'm heading over to Alicia's later with Backup, so I may not be here when you get home," Keith replied as Veronica led the way to the door. She gave her dad a quick wave before opening the door and stepping out to the porch with Logan behind her.

"Were you worried?" Logan asked with a teasing tone to his voice.

Veronica shook her head. "What would I have to be worried about?" she asked innocently.

Logan gave her a knowing smirk. "Me alone with your dad."

Veronica chuckled and shook her head again. "Of course not."

Logan just laughed and nodded as he opened his door to climb into his SUV. "Sure you weren't," he replied with a mischievous wink.

On the way to meet the other two, they talked a bit about the club her dad had been doing surveillance outside of. Logan commented that they had suspicions about illegal gambling and prostitution happening there too, but they hadn't been able to get any proof yet. When Norris and Doug joined them, Doug started telling them about the last call that he and Logan had taken. Since they'd all pretty much left right after they'd returned from that call, they hadn't heard about it while they were still at the station.

"So there was this _horrible_ smell coming from under the lady's porch, and she insisted someone had stashed a dead body there… and _fucking_ Echolls," Doug paused and made an angry growling sort of grunt sound. "Echolls made me crawl under there to check it out. He wouldn't even do rock-paper-scissors with me this time."

"Do you blame me?" Logan asked with a chuckle as he shook his head.

Veronica was still sitting in the passenger seat, so she had turned sideways so she could watch Doug as he talked and could see Logan too. She could see the amused smile on his face as he drove and listened to Doug's story.

"It was a dead skunk of course, and it was dark and I dropped my flashlight and bumped my head on a beam," Doug continued with an annoyed tone.

"Sucks to be the rookie, doesn't it?" Norris asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah it does," Doug grumbled as he shook his head.

"You wouldn't make me be the one to crawl under the house would you, _partner_?" Veronica asked with a head tilt as she spun farther so she could see Norris. He laughed and shook his head.

"Oh you totally would," Logan said as he laughed.

"No he wouldn't," Veronica protested as she pushed on Logan's shoulder. He laughed a bit harder and shook his head again.

"Next time there's a suspicious smell call, we'll be sure to send the two of you out and we'll see who ends up crawling under the porch then," Logan replied with an amused smirk.

They arrived at the gun range shortly after that. They'd all brought along their firearms in cases that were in the back of the SUV. Logan handed Veronica hers with a warm smile as the other two grabbed their own and started walking in. Given this was routine for them, they all knew exactly where they were headed and Veronica just followed along. She was thankful that they didn't use the first round as the deciding factor of who would buy drinks because her aim was certainly a bit off from not shooting for a couple of weeks. Logan must have noticed and gave her an obnoxious look as she pulled back in her first target to put on a new one.

"My money's on Blondie buying us drinks tonight," Logan commented with a mischievous smirk.

Veronica rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. "Care for a side wager then?" she asked with a sly look on her face.

"Hm… that sounds intriguing," he replied as he studied her carefully. "What do you propose?"

"Hm…" She wasn't really planning on proposing anything, so she didn't have something immediately ready to go. "How about the loser between us on the final round has to buy the other person lunch sometime this week?"

Logan smiled and nodded. "Does winner get to pick the restaurant?"

"Sure, sounds fair. I'm sure I'll be able to come up with some place good for you to take me," she teased.

"We'll see," Logan replied with a smug grin.

They kept shooting for another 45 minutes or so before Norris said it was time for the final shoot off. Veronica was glad that her aim had gotten better as the time had passed.

"Ladies first," Logan said as he waved his arm in a broad arch toward the space that they'd be shooting from.

Veronica smiled and nodded as she stepped forward and pulled her gun up to aim her shot. She squeezed the trigger and was happy that it was just slightly off from the center of the target, probably only by a quarter of an inch.

"Nice shot," Logan said as she stepped away from the ledge.

Doug went next and was much farther from center than Veronica was. Norris followed Doug and got a little bit closer to center than Doug had, but not as close as Veronica. Logan went next and gave Veronica a little wink as he took his spot in front of the half-wall and aimed for a second before pulling the trigger. A satisfactory smile crossed his face as he turned and looked at Veronica.

"I'll try to pick someplace reasonable," Logan commented to Veronica with a playful smirk. She shook her head, but couldn't help the smile that crossed her lips. Even though she lost because Logan hit dead center, it still felt so good to be back on comfortable ground with him again.

By the time they made it to Callahan's, several of the firefighters, including Brandon were already there playing on one of the pool tables. Doug took their drink orders and headed to the bar, while the other three headed back toward the pool tables. Norris was a few steps in front of them, with Logan and Veronica walking pretty much side by side.

"Logan?" a female voice called out from a small group of people who had just stood up to leave one of the tables.

Logan and Veronica both turned toward the voice at the same time. Before Veronica even figured out who had said it, a blonde woman was wrapping her arms around Logan's torso. "I was hoping I'd run into you!" she said enthusiastically. Veronica glanced at Logan who seemed surprised by what was happening, but gave the woman a quick embrace back.

"Kayla?" Logan finally said as she took a step away and beamed up at him. Veronica quickly sized up the mystery woman. Besides having absolutely adorable dimples, she was, of course, blonde and beautiful. _Do women like this just gravitate to him when he's done with one and available for another?_ "What are you doing in Neptune? I thought you were in… New Jersey?" Logan asked as he smiled at her as well.

"New Hampshire," Kayla answered with an amused smile.

"At least I didn't say New Mexico," Logan replied with a slightly teasing lilt to his voice. Veronica hated to admit to herself that while it wasn't exactly flirting, the familiarity he had with this woman definitely made her jealous.

"Yeah… you did get the right side of the Mississippi at least," Kayla replied back, still smiling at him. _Enough with the smiling and those dimples... not to mention the twinkling blue eyes. _

"So, back to visit the 'rents?" Logan asked with a smug smile.

Kayla shook her head, and Veronica noticed she looked a bit less enthusiastic finally. "No… actually I'm moving back."

"Oh…" Logan replied, seeming genuinely surprised. "Eddie?" Logan asked next. _Please let Eddie be her significant other with whom she is deeply, madly in love._

Kayla held up her left hand and wiggled her fingers at him. "Nope… moved back to Utah about 6 months ago…" Her smile had become much grimmer now. _Damn you Eddie!_

"I'm sorry Kayla," Logan said as he gave her an apologetic look and reached out to gently squeeze her shoulder.

"Hey… better that it was before we actually said 'I do' right? Much easier this way," Kayla replied, she took a quick breath and then looked over at Veronica.

"Oh sorry…" Logan said glancing back at Veronica for the first time since Kayla and her dimples had popped out of the crowd. "Kayla Morgan, this is Veronica Mars… she's our newest deputy down at the Sheriff's office." _Of course… a pretty blonde woman appears and I'm back to being just a coworker_. Veronica tried to give Kayla a friendly smile, but she was definitely bitter over the introduction. Given his initial introduction, Veronica was certainly caught off guard as Logan wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "She's also one of my oldest and dearest friends. We both went to Neptune High together, as well as Middle School before that."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Kayla said as she extended her hand and gave Veronica a genuinely friendly smile. As Veronica reached out her own hand, Logan dropped his arm from around her shoulders. "Sheriff Mars' daughter?" Kayla asked next after they had finished shaking hands. Veronica gave her a slightly puzzled look and nodded. "I went to Pan High… although quite a few years ahead of you two, but I remember when your dad was Sheriff in Neptune," Kayla explained.

"Kayla got her psychology doctorate at Hearst and did some work with the Sheriff's department before she graduated," Logan explained as he smiled back and forth between the two women. Veronica wasn't surprised to hear that Kayla was a bit older than they were. She certainly seemed to exude a certain confidence that was hard to miss, which Veronica assumed was from her professional experience as well as her innate personality.

"Do you want to join us for a while, or did you need to take off?" Logan asked next.

"I'd love to join you, if that's all right with Veronica," Kayla asked as she looked expectantly at Veronica.

"Sure… of course…" Veronica answered with as convincing of a smile as she could manage.

"Norris and Brandon are here too," Logan explained as he started to lead the way toward the pool tables again. "I can't remember, was Doug Devlin here when you were still around, or did he start after you left?"

"I think Leo was just interviewing him when I was leaving," Kayla answered as they walked toward the table that Doug had taken their drinks to.

"Did you want a beer or something?" Logan asked as he looked at the tray with the drinks and then at Kayla. Kayla nodded and said she'd take whatever amber they had on tap.

Veronica grabbed her own drink off the tray and took a seat at the table. Brandon had spotted them and gave her a warm smile and a quick head nod. His eyes must have landed on Kayla next, and Veronica watched a surprised expression cross his face too. He was in the middle of a game though so he couldn't walk over and talk to them. Norris was talking with one of the firefighters that Veronica had met at one of the bowling nights and must not have spotted Kayla yet. Logan returned pretty quickly and handed the glass of beer to Kayla, as he grabbed his own off the tray. Veronica and Kayla had taken seats opposite of each other and Logan took the seat in between the two of them.

"So, how'd your parents take the news?" Logan asked after taking a quick drink of his beer.

"Which part? The failed engagement? Or the abandoning the excellent career opportunity to come home?" Kayla asked with a devious smirk.

"I was thinking the homecoming part," Logan replied with a slightly sheepish look on his face.

"They tried to say they were glad to have me home, but the underlying disappointment wasn't hard for a psychologist to detect," Kayla explained.

Logan nodded in understanding. "Well at least you have parents to be disappointed in you," he added in a low tone. Kayla let out a soft sigh and shook her head. "Sorry, I was just looking for the glass half-full angle," Logan continued giving her an admonished expression.

"Right…" Kayla replied, clearly not quite buying that, but apparently letting it go.

"So, do you have a new job lined up out here?" Logan asked next, apparently wanting to get away from the topic of parents.

Kayla shook her head. "Nope… I just missed California too much. I was way too far from the ocean where I was in New Hampshire, which probably didn't help with missing it here. And surfing… well surfing just isn't the same out there." _Of course she surfs too._

"Hey, I think the Sraddha Foundation might have some positions open. I'm on the board of directors there now, so I could put in a good word for you," Logan suggested.

Kayla's dimples made a noticeable return. "That's wonderful Logan… I'm so proud of you for getting involved like that…" She was absolutely beaming at him at that point. "I'd love to see what they might have available. I did a bit of work with them as well when I was working on my doctorate."

"I remember," Logan commented with what Veronica thought was almost a shy smile.

Veronica hadn't intended to just take a back seat to their conversation and finally decided to interject. "So what made you decide to become a psychologist?" she found herself asking since she wasn't quite sure what other approach to take to get involved in their back and forth conversation.

Kayla gave Logan a quick look before she replied. "It's fine," Logan said reassuringly with a small nod. "Veronica and I dated in high school… so she knows my past too."

Kayla smiled at him and reached over and squeezed his hand that was sitting on top of the table. "Well, I was best friends with the boy who lived next to me when we were growing up… and I didn't realize it at first, but he was being abused by his step-father. When I found out what was happening, I begged him to try to get help, but he was so brainwashed by his step-dad that he insisted he deserved the punishment he was receiving." Kayla stopped and took a deep breath and Logan reached over with his free hand and placed it on top of her hand which was still resting on top of his other one. "Before I could convince him otherwise, he ended up in a coma in the hospital. He finally passed away before he ever woke up. I guess I decided then that if I could do something to help other people in situations like that, that I would for him. Once I went to college I decided that becoming a psychologist was what I really wanted to do to try to help other people."

"Oh…" Veronica answered. She hadn't quite expected that. She gave Logan a sympathetic look, feeling bad that she'd even asked now. Obviously Kayla was well aware of Logan's history with his dad.

"Hey… I bet Leo might consider hiring you as a consultant too," Logan suggested, moving them away from the abusive father topic. Kayla finally pulled her hand away from Logan's to take a drink of her beer. "I know he really appreciated all the work you did with the department when you were at Hearst. There have been a few other psychologists that have come in for special cases, but none have quite measured up to your caliber."

Kayla gave him an appreciative look. "Yeah… I was thinking I might try to stop in this week and talk with him. I know there are a few private practices in the area with multiple psychologists on staff that I thought I'd reach out to as well to see if they might have any openings," Kayla replied.

Before they could move on to another topic Norris finally made it over to the table. He gave Kayla a warm smile as well and she stood up from her stool to give him a friendly hug too. _Okay, at least she's just really friendly with everyone she knows and not just with Logan._ Of course the dimples and twinkling blue eyes had to make a return too.

Norris took the other empty stool at the table and before too long, Kayla, Logan and Norris were all reminiscing about things that had happened at the station while Kayla was working there. Veronica had tried to keep from feeling like an outsider, but it was pretty much impossible as she listened to the three of them talk. And it wasn't as if Logan was ignoring her at all, because he was certainly trying to engage her in the stories as well, but she found herself feeling more distant as time went on. Logan tried to pull her into the conversation several times, asking if similar things had ever happened when she was at the SFPD, but of course Neptune had its own brand of weird. Doug stopped by the table as well and was quickly introduced before he went off to play a round of pool.

Logan offered to get another round of drinks, while Norris stood up to see if Brandon wanted a break from playing pool. As soon as the two guys were gone, Kayla quickly excused herself as well saying she needed to step outside to make a quick call and that she'd be right back in a few minutes. Veronica gave her a friendly smile as she nodded and then watched her leave. She realized one of the things that was bothering her was how easily Logan just fell into comfortable conversation with Kayla. Even though Kayla had been gone over a year, she instantly reconnected with both Logan and Norris as if she'd never been away. Veronica also realized that she hadn't really seen Logan be that happy and friendly with another woman since her return. The first time she'd seen him with Bex, Logan was obviously extremely mad at her and then the next time was on Catalina when Logan was acting like an ass about Brandon. While part of her was extremely jealous of the bond he seemed to share with Kayla, another part of her had to admit that it was also probably good for him to be around someone like Kayla. Someone who seemed to be a good influence on him and not poisonous like Bex had been.

"You okay?" Brandon asked, almost startling her since she was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't realize he'd walked back over from the pool table.

"Yeah," she replied with as confident a smile as she could muster. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

Brandon gave her an incredulous look. "Logan and Norris may be distracted by their reminiscing with Kayla, but I've noticed, so don't try to kid me," he replied.

Veronica let out a sigh and glanced over her shoulder toward the bar. Logan was still standing there waiting for another round of drinks. "Did the two of them… did they date?" she asked as she turned back toward Brandon with a questioning expression.

Brandon shook his head. "No… she was engaged and he was dating Maddie."

"But they really liked each other though, didn't they?" she asked with a slightly discouraged tone.

"I don't know… Kayla's a great woman… and well… Logan is pretty likable… but romantically… I don't think so," Brandon replied, apparently trying to sound reassuring.

"Well trust me, coming from a woman's point of view, Kayla is totally into Logan now," Veronica said with a sigh.

Brandon glanced quickly toward the bar again and then leaned a little closer to Veronica. "I know it might hurt, but part of getting over the past is being able to move forward, right?"

Veronica took a shaky breath and nodded. It was hard for her to actually find anything wrong with Kayla. From the stories they were telling, she seemed like a compassionate and intelligent woman. And someone who obviously understood some of the things that Logan had been through as well.

"Did you want to leave? I'll give you a ride home and come back for Norris afterwards," Brandon offered as he rested his hand on her shoulder, but it was right at the same moment that Logan had walked back to the table without either of them realizing it.

"Is something wrong?" Logan asked, giving Veronica a very concerned look. She shook her head and tried to give him a convincing smile. He looked at her skeptically though. _The 'no words with her answer' was giving her away wasn't it?_

"I was just telling Brandon that I was getting a bit tired and he offered to take me home," Veronica explained. _Not exactly a total lie since I am getting a bit tired of the Logan and Kayla show._ Brandon dropped his hand and took a small step away from her.

"I can take you home," Logan replied, still looking at her with a concerned expression.

"No… you should stay… catch up more with Kayla," Veronica said as she looked up at Brandon for a little extra support.

Before Brandon could say anything else though, Logan interjected again. "It's fine, Veronica. Kayla's going to stop by the station to see Leo this week and drop off her resume for me to give to my contacts at the foundation. I can catch up with her later. I'm getting a bit tired too, and we both have early shifts again tomorrow. I'll just take you home."

Veronica glanced at the tray of drinks he'd just brought over. She noticed he'd only gotten water for himself, while it was the same drinks that they'd had the first round for the rest of them. "I'll finish my drink first since you went to get it for me," she suggested.

"Okay," Logan answered with a small smile. "But as soon as you're ready to go, just say the word okay?" She nodded in reply. "Promise?" he asked again, apparently not convinced she would.

"Yes, of course," she replied, trying to sound more confident than she was feeling. She reached out and took the beer he'd gotten for her. "Thanks," she said with a grateful smile.

"Of course. What are friends for?" he commented as he picked up his glass of water and clinked it against her beer bottle. _Yeah… friends._ She smiled and nodded before she took a healthy swig of her drink.


	29. Chapter 29

_**A/N – Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter. Of course I'm evil and had to throw in a new complication with Kayla. **_

_**I did decide to publish my new story, so for any of you reading this one that haven't noticed it yet, chapter one is out there. It's called Marshmallows and Moonlight. I will mention that I am making a slight change to it (a nickname change) and will probably fix that and post chapter two tomorrow. The following updates won't be as fast, but given the overwhelming response already and the edit I wanted to make, I thought I'd go ahead and put chapter two out there soon. **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 29

Mac arrived at Callahan's shortly after Logan had returned with the tray of drinks. She'd had a late meeting at work and stopped by on her way home. Norris had just finished the pool game he was playing when she arrived, so he was able to join Mac at their table. Their greetings were still a bit awkwardly adorable and Veronica found herself smiling slightly at them despite everything else that was going on.

Brandon had stuck around at their table as well and visited with Kayla when she came back inside from making her call. Brandon had also received a big hug and enthusiastic greeting from Kayla when she first came back in and saw him at their table. It made Veronica feel a little better about Kayla's behavior toward Logan, realizing she was just a really affectionate person, although she still noticed little looks in Logan's direction that Kayla didn't seem to give the other two guys.

"Hey another pool table just opened up," Brandon said to Norris as he pointed to one next to where the others were playing. "We should have a rematch for when you two beat me and Veronica a couple weeks ago," he continued as he looked intently at Veronica.

"Sure, I'm up for that," Mac chimed in as she glanced over at Veronica with a hopeful smile. "How about you?"

Veronica smiled and nodded. Getting a break from listening to Kayla talk to Logan sounded great. She wondered if Mac could already tell that having Kayla show up there was bothering her. Logan had continued doing his best to try to include Veronica in all of their conversations and Veronica had tried to keep her friendliest facade in place. Veronica glanced at Logan and thought she saw a concerned look on his face for a second, but he quickly replaced it with a smile as she stood up to head over to the pool table.

"So where's Carmen tonight?" Veronica asked Brandon as she stood next to him and he racked up the balls on the table.

Brandon did a half shrug before he answered. "She had some family stuff to do tonight."

Veronica couldn't help but pick up the tone of disappointment in his reply. "You two seemed to be getting along really well last night at Logan's. Is everything okay?"

He shrugged slightly again. "Yeah… I think so… it's just." He paused and looked at her with a more serious expression. "She just got out of a really serious relationship that didn't go very well and I think she's a bit reluctant to get into another one so soon. We had a long talk when I took her home last night."

"Oh…" Veronica replied as she gave him a compassionate look. She'd never been great at being the one to give advice, even worse sometimes to take it, but she felt like she owed it to Brandon to try after everything he'd done for her. "There's no rush right? You should just give her time to feel like she's ready for something more serious again."

"Yeah, I know," he replied with a small smile. "I will. I just thought we were headed in a different direction than she's ready to go. It's fine though."

Veronica let out a deep sigh and reached for his hand. "You're a great guy Brandon, and I'm sure she knows that. It may not take her much time at all to realize you're worth taking a chance for, even if she didn't initially think she was ready for that."

He gave her a grateful smile and squeezed her hand in reply. "Thanks… you're pretty great yourself." She nodded and gave him a small smile in return.

"Ready to show them how it's done, partner?" she asked with a more jovial tone.

"Yeah," Brandon replied as he dropped her hand and reached for a cue stick that was leaning against the table.

"You guys can break since we won last time," Norris called out from the opposite end of the table where he and Mac had been quietly talking to each other.

"Would you like the honor?" Brandon asked as he held the stick out toward Veronica. She shook her head and put her hand on his side, turning him toward the other end of the table and giving him a light shove. He chuckled and walked down to start the game.

She tried to only focus on the game and not watch Logan and Kayla. It helped that they were sort of sitting behind where they were playing, so it was easy to not look that direction most of the time. She realized she hadn't finished her beer though, and decided to walk back and get it after she was done with one of her turns. She'd actually hit two balls in on that turn, which was pretty good for her, and Brandon had given her an enthusiastic sideways hug with his arm across her shoulder when she was done. When she turned from that to go get her drink, she saw that Logan was watching them. She noticed that he had a somber expression for a second before he smiled at her when her eyes met his.

"Nice shots," Logan said as she walked close to the table to get her beer.

"Thanks," Veronica replied with as confident a smile as she could muster. "You and Kayla should play the winning team," she suggested. _I can do this. I can be mature and not jealous. She seems like a good person… not toxic like Bex. And if I can't have him, I'd rather he be with someone like her than someone terrible._

"I'm really not very good at pool," Kayla immediately replied with a slight cringe on her face.

"I'm sure Logan could give you some pointers," Veronica suggested as she picked up her beer bottle and glanced at him.

He had a perplexed look on his face, but shrugged and then nodded. "Sure… I guess… if Kayla wants to... but if you're ready to go after the game, Veronica… we don't have to stay and play."

"Since Mac just got here, I should probably stay a little longer," Veronica answered. She gave them both a quick smile, and then walked back over to lean against the tall table where Brandon was standing and watching Norris take his shots.

"You okay?" Brandon asked as he leaned a bit closer to her so he could whisper in her ear. She turned, putting their faces only a few inches apart.

"Yeah…" she said catching her breath as she realized how longingly he was staring at her. He may have been trying to move on with Carmen, but she could tell he still had strong feelings for her too.

He must have sensed her uneasiness. "Sorry," he said as he blinked and shook his head, moving slightly away from her.

"It's okay," she replied and bumped her shoulder into his. He'd seen her at her worst last week and he had still been there for her regardless of what was in it for him. She could certainly sympathize with how hard it was to want something more with someone than what they wanted in return. And poor Brandon had been hit by that twice in the last week.

Brandon stared down at the floor for a minute before he turned to look back up at her. "He's still intently watching you, you know?" Brandon asked her. She realized when Brandon was looking at her, he was able to see Logan right behind her.

"Oh…" she replied, not really sure if that was good or not. While the thought of Logan with another woman was gut wrenching, the thought of him throwing away a potentially good relationship because of her made her feel just as bad if he really didn't have any intention of ever getting back together with her. Wasn't that what Brandon had been trying to tell her before, that they maybe both needed to figure out how to move on from what they had lost in the past. And that until they did, they wouldn't really be able to be happy. It was similar to how she was feeling about Brandon and Carmen at the moment as well. Veronica didn't want him to jeopardize something with Carmen because he was uncertain about where things might stand between herself and him. _Why does everything always have to be so complicated?_

"You're turn," Norris said to Brandon after he missed the shot he just took.

"I um… I told Logan and Kayla that they should play the winners," Veronica shared with Brandon as a slight grimace formed on her face.

Brandon gave her a questioning look before he nodded and then went back up to the table. _Yeah, you don't have to tell me… not my best idea._

As Brandon walked off, Mac came over and put her arm across Veronica's shoulder. "How's it going Bond?" she asked in a gentle voice.

Veronica took a deep breath. "It's been a long day," she replied. "And running into Kayla… well that was just icing on the cake," she added sarcastically.

Mac gave her a compassionate look. "I'm sorry. I figured that probably wasn't all that pleasant for you, though you were handling it admirably."

Veronica shrugged. "She seems like a really great woman. She also seems to really like Logan."

"She's just friendly with all of them because she was around the station for quite a while. And with Logan… well… she was there when he got suspended." Mac paused and gave her a concerned look for a moment. "But that doesn't mean that Logan likes her as more than just a friend, Veronica." Mac added compassionately.

Veronica hadn't even thought about that fact that Logan may have talked with Kayla about things when the first incident with Gory had happened. _I wonder if that's how she knows so much about his past... if she helped him work through some things while he was suspended_. Veronica took a deep breath before she responded to what Mac had just said. "But maybe he _should_… like her as more than just a friend… she's an intelligent… compassionate… really great woman. The type of person he _deserves_ to be with. The type of person it would be _good_ for him to be with."

"You're all those things too Veronica," Mac told her with a pointed look.

Veronica shrugged. "I had my chance Mac… and lost it… he's made it clear that getting back together with me is not something he intends to do." Veronica stopped and sucked in a deep breath again trying to make sure she didn't lose her composure. "I think it's your turn," she said as she nodded her head toward the pool table again.

Mac gave her a slightly frustrated look but then walked over to take the pool cue that Norris was holding so she could take her shot. Brandon walked back over to Veronica with a concerned look on his face. She gave him her best fake smile as he stopped in front of her.

"Are we winning?" she asked as he continued to scrutinize her.

He let out a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah… we are this time. You look upset though. Are you sure you don't want me to just take you home. To hell with Logan, I can deal with him if you want to go."

"I'm fine, but thank you," she replied as she reached out to take the pool cue from him.

He'd been holding the cue with one hand and as she reached out and put her right hand on it, he reached up with his free hand to rest it on top of hers, brushing her knuckles gently with his thumb. "Seeing you sad really kills me," he said gently as he stared intently at her.

She let out a slow deep breath and tried to smile more genuinely at him. "Knowing you care makes it easier," she replied as she pulled gently on the cue stick. He nodded and pulled both hands away.

"Want some help figuring out your next shot?" he asked with a small half smile. She nodded in reply and he turned so he could stand next to her and looked over the layout of the game. Mac had just missed her shot and Veronica was going to be up next. Brandon leaned closer to her so he could point out the shots that he recommended she try. She listened carefully, then went over and lined up her first shot. It easily went in and the ball rolled into position to give her easy access to another. She made that one and was going for her third in a row, which was actually their last ball before the eight ball. She leaned over to line it up, and was about to shoot when she realized Logan had left the table at some point and was closely watching the game too. He was standing just a few feet from her.

"You're off just slightly," Logan said quietly as he closed the distance between them and reached around her waist to tip the stick in her hand just a little bit more. "That should do it," he whispered softly before he took a step back.

She took a deep breath to steady herself, completely not expecting him to do that. She was facing the direction of the table they'd been at before, and she could see that Kayla was talking with the girlfriend of one of the other firefighters that she'd met bowling, and wasn't actually watching them at the pool table. Veronica was thankfully able to keep her hands in the position Logan had moved them to and was able to sink the shot. She glanced at Logan as the ball dropped into the pocket, and he had a proud smile on his face. She couldn't help but smile in return and silently said 'thank you' to him. He gave her a quick little head nod before she turned back to look at the next shot.

Brandon had moved closer to her in the meantime and pointed out the angle she should take to get the final ball in. _Why do I suddenly feel like I'm a toy being fought over?_ Brandon watched her aim carefully and then nodded to her when she was lined up just right. She pulled back the cue stick and hit the ball, easily sinking the eight ball and winning the game.

"Great job," Logan commented as she looked up from the table at him.

"Thanks," she replied as Brandon also reached over and gave her a quick side hug again. Logan walked closer and she could tell he wasn't thrilled about Brandon having his arm around her, but he didn't say anything about it either.

"Did you want to go home now?" Logan asked watching her closely.

Given Kayla hadn't seemed all that excited when Veronica had mentioned playing the winning team, and the fact that Logan was still not looking terribly happy at the moment, maybe going home now was the best idea.

"I can take her," Brandon interjected.

Logan instantly looked down at the floor for a moment before looking back up at Brandon with a neutral expression on his face. "It's Veronica's decision. I said I'd take her, but it's up to her. I can get her stuff out of my car for you if she wants to go with you." He finally glanced over at her and she could tell he was working really hard to keep the neutral expression in place. _God we're such a mess aren't we?_

"I'll just go with Logan, but thanks Brandon," Veronica replied as she looked at Logan for a few seconds before turning to look at Brandon.

Brandon nodded and dropped his arm as she looked at him. "Okay. Thanks for playing again tonight. _Anytime_ you need a partner, you just let me know."

She smiled softly at Brandon and handed the pool stick to him. "You're not too bad yourself," she replied. She hoped he realized she meant more than just a pool partner, and she had a sneaking suspicion that he had as well. Mac walked over and congratulated her on winning and then gave her a tight hug goodbye when Veronica said she was leaving.

Logan led the way back to the table that they had all been sitting at. Kayla was still there talking with the other woman that Veronica had noticed a few minutes ago. Logan said a quick good night to both of them. Kayla stood up and gave him a quick hug goodbye and said she'd see him soon. She also told Veronica that it was nice meeting her, to which Veronica nodded and said the same to her. After saying their goodbyes, Logan gestured for Veronica to lead the way to his car. The bar had become a little more crowded and Logan walked closely behind her, putting his hand on her lower back at one point to direct her around a group of rowdy guys. She noticed as soon as they were by them though, he quickly removed his hand again.

Logan gave Veronica a concerned expression as he opened the passenger door for her, but he didn't say anything as he waited for her to climb in and then he closed it behind her. When he climbed into the driver's seat though, he hesitated when he started to put the key in the ignition and turned toward her instead. "Did Brandon say something that upset you?" he asked with a concerned look still on his face. She was completely caught off guard by that and shook her head before he spoke again. "It's just… you didn't seem upset until he came over to talk to you and then…" He paused and waited a beat before he continued with an even more distraught look on his face. He must have been trying to think of other reasons why she might have been upset. "Did _I_… did I do something that upset you?" He looked at her anxiously before he continued. "Was it Kayla… we're just friends… I didn't…"

_Had Brandon been the only one to see through my act… or had he just assumed I'd be upset by Kayla and I wasn't actually giving off any vibes that Logan would have picked up on? Mac also said I was doing an admirable job of not letting Kayla and Logan get to me. I certainly don't want to seem like I'm jealous of his friendship with another woman, if that's all it really is._ "No I was just… I was just a little worried about Brandon… things aren't going so well with him and Carmen right now, and I just felt bad about that." _Not a total lie at least._

"Oh," Logan replied, hesitating for a moment apparently trying to process her response, but still looking a bit distraught over potentially being what caused her to be upset. "I didn't know… they seemed to be getting along fine last night at my place, but I did wonder why she wasn't there tonight."

Veronica nodded in agreement. "Yeah… I guess she just ended a pretty serious relationship and isn't really ready to get into another one."

Logan let out a deep breath. "I can certainly understand that. I know I don't want to jump into anything else right after Bex either."

Veronica thought back to what she'd told Brandon earlier. "But what if the right person comes along and they just have bad timing. I would think taking a risk would be worth it regardless of the circumstances."

Logan gave her a slightly puzzled look and shrugged. "I don't know…"

"Logan, what if Kayla's that person for you?" she asked as she took a steadying breath. _This seems as good a time as any to suggest that._

"What? No… I don't think… I'm certainly not the right person for her," he said in a confused, adamant tone.

Veronica shook her head. As much as this hurt, she really did want what was best for him, and maybe that was Kayla. "Logan, you had to have noticed that she really likes you? That she was giving off all sorts of signs that she does."

Logan shook his head in reply. "No… I'm not… I'm not someone she should be with," he said more adamantly as he turned forward and started the car. _And we're back to him avoiding things and being hard on himself, aren't we?_

She weighed her options as he backed out of the parking space. She could try to argue with him about it more now, or just give him some time to figure it out on his own. Or she could figure out how to help push him in that direction too. The first option was likely not going to do much good right now, so she didn't go there. _It's not like it's a do or die situation at the moment._

They were silent the rest of the drive back to her dad's house. She wasn't sure if he was just being quiet, or if he was actually upset. He pulled into the driveway of her dad's house and turned off the ignition. "I'll get your stuff from the back," he said as he opened his door and climbed out.

She took a deep breath before she opened her door and walked toward the back as well. He'd already pulled out her gun case and closed the rear door before she got there. "Did you want to come in for a little while?" she asked, hoping they could at least talk a little bit more and not end the evening on such a despondent note. He looked at her with an uncertain expression, but didn't say anything. "Hey, I promise I won't kiss you again," she said with a teasing smile on her face, not sure if it was the right thing to say, but she was at a loss for anything else. She was also hoping that if she joked about it, it would lighten things up instead of making it worse. Although the second it left her mouth she sort of wished she hadn't said it.

He let out a deep breath and looked down at the ground. _Okay, maybe that wasn't the best thing to say._ She was relieved when he looked back up and at least didn't look more upset.

"We never really had a chance to talk more about that," he said with a grim expression.

She shrugged. "It's fine… we don't need too…" _Even if we probably should._ "I wanted something different than you did… but I still want to be your friend, so there's really nothing we need to talk about."

"Okay…" he said somewhat hesitantly. "But you do realize how important you are to me, right?" She smiled and nodded. "I would give anything to never lose you from my life again, Veronica, and I'm just afraid that if we… tried again… that eventually it would end… and then I'm sure you would leave and I may never get a chance to have you in my life again. We tried four times Veronica… and we couldn't make it work."

"I get it," she replied, even if she didn't completely agree, but she could see where he was coming from. She could argue that they were too young and maybe now things would be different, but she didn't think he was in the state of mind for that to be a successful discussion. She could tell he was still terribly uneasy and probably ready to bolt. _Fix this, Veronica_. "Come on," she said grabbing his hand. "I'm hungry." They'd ordered some various appetizers at the bar, but she hadn't had a real dinner. "Consider this your first cooking lesson. I'll teach you how to make grilled cheese sandwiches."

She started pulling him toward the house, not giving him any time to reply. She took a few steps, and then glanced over her shoulder at him for a second and saw a small smile on his lips. She smiled a bit more herself, feeling like she had made a good choice to try to make things better. She dropped his hand when she got to the door so she could pull her key out and unlock the door. He was still holding her gun case, and when she got inside she took it from him and put it on a table near the hallway to her room.

"Okay… first rule… wash your hands," she said with a sly smile as she moved toward the kitchen sink.

"Ah… just like kindergarten… do we get to sing the ABC song too?" he teased as he walked over by her and pushed up his sleeves.

"Knock your self out," she replied with a soft chuckle. He laughed softly too and shook his head.

"I'm thinking some tomato soup with the sandwiches too… we'll cheat and use canned of course, because there's no way I'm making some from scratch tonight."

"I can actually heat up soup from a can," Logan commented with a faux proud smile.

She rolled her eyes playfully at him as she grabbed a loaf of bread and set it on the counter. She went to the fridge next and grabbed a packet of sliced cheese and a tub of margarine. Logan must have remembered where the utensils were from the other night and opened the drawer and grabbed a butter knife. He opened the bread as she grabbed a plate to put the sandwiches on.

"How many for you? 2, 3, 4?" Logan asked with a mischievous grin.

"Two is plenty," she replied with a chastising expression, causing him to chuckle again softly.

Logan opened the top of the margarine and started coating one side of several pieces of bread, stacking them on the plate. She gave him a questioning look to which he shrugged. "I paid attention when you made these for us when we were younger," he explained upon seeing her expression.

"Well that's good… you can make them, and I'll just sit and watch," she said flippantly as she walked around to take a seat at the kitchen counter.

He let out a deep sigh. "Okay, I think I paid attention to you buttering the bread, but that was all I remember," he said as he gave her a helpless expression.

She chuckled and stood back up, going over to get a griddle pan out of the cabinet for him to use. There was a container by the stove with various spatulas and flippers in it, so she grabbed a wide one for him to use too. She gave him directions on how high to have the temperature on the stove and the best way to lay out the bread and cheese and then went to find two cans of soup to heat up while he manned the sandwiches. She grabbed a sauce pan to pour the soup into and then stood next to him, making sure he didn't let the sandwiches burn, while she stirred the soup.

His first sandwich flip didn't go very smoothly and she could see why Heather probably called him hopeless. She did the second one for him and then he was much better with the third and fourth ones on the griddle. She grabbed a ladle and two soup bowls as she instructed him on transferring the sandwiches to two plates.

They carried the food over to the kitchen table, and she grabbed two large glasses of ice water for them. "Well done," she said with a warm smile as she took a bite of one of her sandwiches. "You'll be cooking gourmet meals in no time at all." Logan laughed and shook his head. "So have you already decided where I'm taking you to lunch?" Veronica asked next, trying to keep the conversation light at least. He shook his head as he took another bite of his mangled flip-accident sandwich. "Maybe we can go tomorrow, if things aren't as insanely busy as today," she added.

He nodded. "Yeah, hopefully we'll hear from the M.E. tomorrow too. I've been thinking more about the case." She gave him an intrigued look. "If the M.E. confirms that the fish priest was used, the likeliest scenario is that Dominick was on board and hit him because I don't think Bethany would have been strong enough to do any real damage." Veronica nodded in agreement when he paused for a second. "But if we go after Dominick, I'm sure she's going to just let him take the blame, even though I'm sure she was probably the instigator. So we need to be really careful not to tip our hands and give her the chance to completely get out of it."

Veronica nodded in agreement. It certainly wasn't likely, with the way Logan had described Bethany, that she'd come to Dominick's defense if he was accused of it. "We could go after her though," Veronica suggested.

Logan nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. If we act like we still believe she was the only one on the boat and accuse her, she'd probably sell Dominick out pretty quickly. I wonder if her double crossing him would be enough for him to sell her out too."

"You don't peg him for the chivalrous type?" Veronica asked as she pondered his plan.

Logan shook his head. "Not if his ass is on the line."

Veronica shrugged in response. "He was willing to murder for her though… maybe he would be willing to completely take the blame as well. Maybe he really does love her that much."

Logan took a moment before he replied. "I'm guessing she's been leading him on pretty strongly. If he figures out she doesn't love him enough to protect him, it may be enough to flip him."

"I just know if we try to see it through with her as the suspect, I don't think the DA would be able to get a conviction, especially if she's not the one who did it. Hopefully your plan will work though and we'll get her to turn on him, rather than her actually being in love with him and risking her freedom to save him."

"She's never going to risk her freedom for him. I can guarantee it. She's as selfish as they come," Logan replied with an angry look.

They continued eating their food and discussed a couple of the calls they'd each been out on earlier that day. She'd never dated anyone on the police force when she was in San Francisco because she had worried it would seem unprofessional, but she realized talking with him about work now, how nice it would be to be with someone who understood exactly what it was like to deal with their line of work. She could understand Leo's reluctance to let the two of them work together, but so far they'd had the most success when they had broken that rule anyway. First the embezzlement case and now the Donaldson case. She knew most of the calls that came in were simple open and close requests that didn't require a lot of investigative work, but she was hoping the next complicated one that did come up, that they'd somehow figure out how to work it together, even if Leo didn't really authorize it.

"Dessert?" she asked as they carried their dirty dishes back to the kitchen sink.

Logan gave her an amused smile and shrugged. "Sure, why not. What have you got?"

"Well… I still have the tiramisu… or ice cream." He gave her a sly smile as she said it. "Yeah, the cannoli was my lunch yesterday," she responded with a chuckle. "Or at least the sweet part of it."

"Either one is fine with me," he said as she walked toward the fridge and opened the door. She pulled out the container with the tiramisu and then opened the freezer. She pulled out a pint of Ben &amp; Jerry's Coffee Caramel Buzz.

"We can OD on coffee flavor and have them together?" she said with a smirk.

"Sure," he said as he watched her close the door and walk back over toward him.

His expression became a bit more serious before she started to pull two bowels out of the cabinet.

"Thanks…" he said softly causing her to turn toward him with a questioning look on her face. She clearly sensed he wasn't just talking about dinner and dessert. "…for being so understanding. I'd hate to ever lose you as my friend again."

"I promise you never will."


	30. Chapter 30

_**A/N – Thanks for all your continued support and reviews! There's quite a bit going on in this chapter, and I'm sure it ends sooner than any of you would like. I'm really hoping to get a new chapter of Lightning Rod finally done, so I'm going to work on that next instead of this, so you will likely have to wait longer for the next chapter. (I know I forewarned of that for this chapter, but found some time to get it done anyway, but won't have time to work on two stories, so this time it's much more likely to be true). I do have several chapters of Marshmallows and Moonlight done, so at least I'll be able to post another chapter of that even while I work on Lightning Rod.**_

_**Thanks also for all the help my fabulous beta, Bondopoulos has given me!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 30

Veronica texted Logan when she'd left her dad's house in the morning and offered to pick up coffee for him this time. She was glad that, despite the difficult moments from the night before, things still seemed to be getting more stable between the two of them. Before they started getting busy with calls, Veronica had asked Logan about lunch again and he had decided on Thai food for whenever they were able to find time to go. Not too long after they started their shift, quite a few calls started coming in, keeping them all very busy for the rest of the morning. Veronica was hoping that things would start slowing down by lunch time so they could actually go out as planned.

Veronica and Norris had just returned from their latest call when Leo asked them, as well as Logan, to come into his office. Leo let them know that the M.E. was supposed to have some information for them later in the afternoon, and that Leo had agreed to let Logan go along with Norris and Veronica for the update since Logan had helped with the case as well. Veronica was relieved that Leo was going to let Logan keep working on the case with them, even though it hadn't originally been assigned to him.

"Thanks," Logan said with a grin that Veronica could only describe as partly grateful and partly smug. Logan seemed to be one of the few people who could easily pull those two looks off at the same time.

"Don't think I haven't noticed that even though I told the two of you that you weren't supposed to be working together, that you keep going behind my back anyway," Leo chastised as he responded to Logan.

"Hey, you're the one who told me to help her with the embezzlement case, so you can't count that one," Logan replied with the smirk definitely becoming even more smug now.

Leo narrowed his eyes slightly and shook his head at Logan. "The M.E. said to come by the morgue around 3:00," Leo continued, not really acknowledging that Logan was right.

When the three of them walked out of Leo's office, Veronica instantly spotted Kayla talking with Doug.

"Hey," Kayla said with a smile as she saw the three of them approaching her. Veronica couldn't help but notice the way Kayla's eyes lit up a little bit more when she smiled at Logan. Kayla pulled a file folder out of the messenger bag she was carrying. "I brought my resume over for you," she said as she handed it to Logan. "I really appreciate you putting in a good word for me at the foundation."

"Of course," Logan said politely as he took the folder from her.

"Hey, can I buy you lunch today?" Kayla asked as she looked at him hopefully. "I know you may not have a lot of time, so we can go somewhere quick… like we used to… it's the least I can do to show my appreciation."

"Sorry, I already have plans to have lunch with Veronica today," Logan responded quickly as he looked at Veronica.

"I... um… actually have some stuff I need to finish up from one if my earlier calls. You should go with Kayla," Veronica said with a reassuring smile. "We can go to lunch tomorrow."

Logan looked troubled for a moment before Kayla spoke again. "So… sounds like you can go with me then? I promise we'll go some place quick if you're too busy to be gone long."

"Actually two other teams just started their shift, so we should be fine without Logan for a while," Norris added. While it was true, Veronica was a little surprised that Norris was so quick to mention it. She couldn't help but wonder if Norris also wanted to encourage Logan and Kayla to get together.

"Great," Kayla said as she beamed at Logan. "I just wanted to chat with Leo for a few minutes and then we could go?"

"Yeah… I guess so," Logan replied, although Veronica couldn't help but notice that he sounded somewhat reluctant about it.

"Just be sure you're back in time to go to see the M.E.," Veronica added with an encouraging smile.

"I'm _sure_ we won't be gone that long," Logan replied. Veronica could tell he wasn't thrilled about the current situation, but it didn't seem like he was going to make a big deal about it either. At least not in front of everyone. _How bad could having lunch with Kayla be?_ Veronica could understand him not being super excited about it since she had essentially pushed him into it, but she was a little surprised that he seemed as annoyed by it as he was. _Maybe backing out of having lunch with him wasn't as good of an idea as I initially thought it would be._

Veronica walked over to her desk and grabbed the Donaldson case file so she could review all her notes on it before they talked to the M.E. later that afternoon. Logan walked back to his desk and slapped the file folder that Kayla had given him down in an irritated manner, before he spun around, shooting an annoyed look at Veronica and then walked over to Doug's desk.

"Do you want me to fill out the reports for those last two calls, or did you start one already?" Logan asked with a clearly irritated tone. He was standing behind Veronica, so she couldn't see his face, but it was easy to guess what his expression likely was.

"Um… I've got them," Doug said a bit hesitantly.

"Fine," Logan grumbled before she heard his footsteps moving farther away. "Tell Kayla, I'll just meet her out front," she heard Logan say, although she wasn't sure exactly who he'd directed it to. A minute later, she heard the outer door open and swing shut.

"What the hell is wrong with him now?" Doug asked, not aware of what had transpired a few minutes before.

"Well Veronica blew him off for lunch and set him up to go out with Kayla instead," Norris replied, drawing an angry glare from Veronica.

"_Really_? Thanks _partner_…" she said, a bit disgruntled. Norris just shrugged and looked slightly apologetic. "You're the one who told him there wasn't a need to rush back," Veronica reminded him.

"Well there wasn't," Norris added innocently. Veronica shook her head and let out a frustrated scoff.

A couple minutes later, Leo's door opened, and Norris let Kayla know that Logan was waiting for her outside. She shared a friendly goodbye with them all before heading in the same direction that Logan had gone.

"Any good suggestions for lunch?" Veronica asked after she was done looking over the case file again.

"There's a food truck a couple blocks over that has killer burritos," Doug suggested.

"That sounds good," Veronica agreed. She really wanted to get out of the office for a little while and walking alone to pick up lunch sounded good. "Can I bring back something back for you guys?" she asked next. Norris and Doug gave her their orders, and then Doug gave her better directions.

As she walked to the food truck, she was having an internal debate with herself. She really did still believe that Kayla could be good for Logan, although she was regretting her approach based on his reaction now. She was about to get in line for the food truck when the customer that had just been served turned and stepped toward her.

"Ronnie?" Dick asked with a hesitant tone. She couldn't help but notice he quickly looked around before his eyes landed back on her.

"Dick," Veronica replied a bit tersely. She really hoped she could avoid seeing him again… forever if possible.

"So… is Logan here with you?" Dick asked a bit nervously, scanning around the area one more time before his eyes landed on her once again. She shook her head in reply.

"Oh… you two are together again though, right?" Dick asked as he focused a bit more on her finally.

Veronica shook her head again. "No…"

"_Seriously_?" Dick replied with an exasperated expression. Veronica gave him an inquisitive look hoping he might continue. And being Dick, who frequently spoke before he ever thought, he of course continued on with the exasperation and disappointment evident in his tone. "You were all he's _ever_ wanted… the _only_ one he's ever loved… and you're _finally_ back now… he _dumped_ Bex for you and you _still_ won't take him back… _unbelievable_."

"Wait, what?" Veronica asked, totally thrown by Dick's response. It was clear from his tone that he was completely blaming Veronica for how things were, although she wasn't exactly sure why he was so emphatic about it.

Dick let out another exasperated sigh and shook his head. "I never understood his obsession with you in the first place… how he completely _destroyed_ himself when you left town… the drugs and fights and shit… I told him you weren't worth it… I guess I was right. I doubt you ever even loved him."

"Fuck you Dick," Veronica blurted out before she even realized what she was saying. "I love Logan… I did then, and I do now… he's the one who doesn't love me anymore." She clenched her jaw tight and tried to regain her composure as she started to internalize what she just yelled loud enough to cause people in line at the food cart to turn and look at her. _Fuck, fuck, fuck… why do I keep running into this jackass._

Dick's expression changed from being exasperated to completely lost. He gave her a puzzled look and shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense… Why the fuck would he break-up with Bex if it wasn't to get back together with you? Addie said…" He trailed off and rubbed his head in frustration. "I need to go…" Before Veronica could say another word, he turned and walked off as quickly as he could.

Veronica shot an apologetic glance to the guy in a business suit standing in front of her in line who was still glancing at her over his shoulder, and then cringed when he turned away from her. _Fucking Dick. Why does this keep happening?_ She was thankful that there were still a few people in line in front of her so she had time to regain her composure before she had to place her order. By the time she took the bag of burritos from the guy in the truck, she'd replayed what Dick had said to her at least a hundred times in her mind. Of course the '_he dumped Bex for you_' stood out as much as the drugs and fights and destroying himself did. The drugs part wasn't really news since she already knew he'd been high with Sean when he attacked Dick. How regular of an occurrence that was, she wasn't sure of though. And of course the fact that Logan didn't want to try again hurt even more since Dick had apparently expected it to be a forgone conclusion. Although she had to remind herself that Dick hadn't been directly involved in Logan's life for the last couple of years. All his information lately would have been gained indirectly through Todd and his girlfriend. _Fuck… what if this latest Dick run in also gets back to Logan?_ Yelling that she still loved Logan in the middle of a crowded sidewalk was not at all how she wanted him to find that out. She suddenly found herself searching the faces around her again, hoping there wasn't anyone else around who may know her. Although, realistically, if someone had been there when the yelling took place, they were likely long gone now.

She had just started to step away from the food truck when her cell phone went off, causing her to jump slightly. It was a call from Norris letting her know that they'd had a couple urgent calls come in, and that he was going to go out on one of them with Doug. He asked her to just put their food in the fridge until they got back later. He also let her know that if their call took too long to just go to the M.E. with Logan and he'd get the details from her later. She let out a deep sigh as she put the phone back in her pocket. _Logan… why couldn't he just love me now like he used to… why does nothing ever go our way._ She shook her head as she started walking back to the station. _Don't forget you still want what's best for him… even if that's not you._

On the way back to the station, Dick's comments played through her head another hundred times or so. She couldn't help but wonder to what extent Logan had actually destroyed himself or if Dick was just being overly dramatic. _At least Logan hadn't killed himself or anyone else._ _Were the drugs and getting involved with a Fitzpatrick a short-lived phase of intentionally trying to get himself killed though? And fighting? What sort of fights did he get into besides beating up Dick?_ From the way Dick had phrased it, it certainly sounded like it was fights, plural. At least it seemed as though Logan was past all of that, but at what cost? She knew there were still things haunting him that he didn't want to talk about, and something was certainly causing his negative self-image now. She was still worried he'd hear about the incident from someone else, and she didn't want another scene like the last time she talked with Dick. But how the hell was she supposed to bring up what just happened?

The closer she got to the station the more anxious she became. With all of the drama that had been happening ever since she came back to town, her ability to just let things roll off of her was quickly diminishing. She tried to put on a smile before she walked back into the office, but couldn't seem to force herself to do it. As she reached for the door, she hoped that Logan wouldn't be back yet and that she'd have some time before she'd have to deal with him. She knew he hadn't been at all happy when he left for lunch, and dealing with his annoyance on top of what Dick had said was just more than she thought she could handle at the moment. Of course as the door opened, she realized luck was certainly not on her side today at all. Logan was already at his desk, although he was looking down at something on it and not in her direction. She set a course straight for the break room, trying to at least buy a little more time.

She had just opened the fridge door and was about to put the guys' burritos in when she heard someone clear his throat behind her. She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a defeated sigh. God, I even know him by the way he clears his throat. She opened her eyes again and braced herself for him to lay into her about setting him up to go to lunch with Kayla… or worse, already hearing about her run in with Dick.

"Hey… I just wanted to apologize… for being mad earlier that you bailed on me for lunch."

_Well that's better than I expected_. She kept staring into the fridge though and didn't want to turn toward him. She wasn't sure what he'd be able to figure out from her expression.

"I'd forgotten how nice it was to talk to Kayla sometimes… so thanks for forcing me to do that."

She closed her eyes and slowly nodded her head.

"You okay?" he asked with a concerned tone to his voice, causing her to open her eyes.

"Yep," she replied quickly, hoping he would just go back to his desk. Unfortunately she heard him walk closer to her instead.

"Hey… what's going on?" he asked as he put a hand on her shoulder and turned her toward him. "You made me go to lunch with her, so please don't tell me you're actually upset about it now?"

"No it's not…" she let out a deep sigh. _I don't want him to think I'm upset about Kayla and there's a high likelihood he's going to find out I ran into Dick anyway._ "I um… I ran into Dick again… that's all." She said turning away from him and reaching in the bag for one of the burritos.

"Oh…" he replied softly. "Did you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head as she pulled out the second burrito. _No, yes, maybe… but definitely not here right now._ She pulled out her burrito and stared at it for a moment. She'd sort of lost her appetite with all the stress from what was going on, but at least it could be an excuse to get away from Logan and delay further inquisition for a little while. "I'm going to go sit outside and eat. Call me if you need me for anything," she said as she closed the fridge door and started to walk past him. She heard him exhale as she left, but didn't hear him come after her.

She'd been sitting on the bench for probably five minutes or so, just staring at a spot on the path in front of her, debating what she should do about everything. The burrito was still wrapped in its foil cover, sitting on the bench next to her.

"It's easier to eat it if you take the foil off, Veronica," she heard Logan say softly as he walked up from behind her and came around to take a seat on the bench. He picked up the burrito as he sat down and held it out to her. "Look," he said gently as she took the burrito from him. "I can understand you not wanting to talk about something difficult while we're working, but please don't try to tell me that whatever Dick said didn't upset you. Will you talk to me later… we could… I don't know… get dinner… or you could give me another cooking lesson… but please don't shut me out now." She turned toward him and saw genuine concern in his eyes. "You know that never turns out well for us."

She let out a loud sigh and nodded slowly. "Okay… later… we can try to talk later." Although she still wasn't exactly sure what she was going to be able to tell him. Or if he'd even want to talk about the things that Dick said.

"Kayla and I just walked across to the deli. Why don't we go out for Thai food since I was looking forward to having lunch there with you today," Logan suggested as he took the burrito out of her hand and tore off part of the foil at the top and handed it back to her. "Eat," he added in a pointed tone as he crunched the foil he'd tore off into a small ball in his hand. She shook her head slightly and then finally took a bite of the burrito.

The two of them sat in silence for a while as he continued to squish the foil ball in his hand. "I should go back inside since technically I already used up my lunch break," he commented. "You okay out here?"

"I forgot to bring out a drink. I'll just walk back in with you," she said as she gave him a small smile. He nodded and stood up from the bench, extending his hand to pull her up too.

"I'm glad you had a good lunch with Kayla," she said trying to sound more confident than she was feeling.

He chuckled softly and nodded. "Yeah… I swear she never goes out of psychologist mode though… which sometimes can be annoying, but other times it's actually good."

_Well she certainly improved the mood he was in right before he left._ "It was good today, I take it?"

He gave her a small smile. "Yeah… it was good today."

Logan held the door open for her to walk through and then turned to head back to his desk as she went to get a drink from the vending machine. When she got back to her desk Logan was standing up and grabbing his jacket.

"A call just came in for a traffic accident that they need some assistance with. I can take it on my own if you want to stay and finish your lunch. I should be done before it's time to go see the M.E. and can pick you up here," he said as he slipped his jacket on.

"I'll come along," she said as she reached for her own jacket.

"Well bring your lunch and you can finish eating while I drive. Just don't make a mess in my squad car," Logan warned as he gave her a devious smile. She rolled her eyes and followed him out the door.

They didn't talk much on the drive there, mostly because she was trying to finish off the burrito before they arrived. He'd made some comment about not eating so fast because he didn't want to have to stop to Heimlich her. Something about the way he said it ended up making them both laugh though, which almost did make her choke on her food. There was already a tow truck on scene when they arrived, so they helped direct traffic while the damaged vehicle was loaded up and wrote a citation to the driver that had run through a red light. Luckily no one was hurt badly, although one passenger did get taken to the hospital just to get checked out.

By the time they finished up at the accident, they headed over to talk with the M.E. Veronica had texted Norris to see if he was going to be able to join them, but he was still tied up on the call that he took with Doug. Since Benjamin's case was still open, the body was still being kept at the morgue, and the M.E. was able to compare the fish priest to the injuries on his head. He confirmed that there were two indentations that could have matched the weapon they recovered. He gave them his updated report and let them know that he sent the fish priest on to the lab for DNA analysis, but given its condition, he wasn't sure if they would be very successful. It was also his opinion that if someone had hit Benjamin with it, that they would have had to be quite strong to make the indentions in his skull.

As they were driving back to the Sheriff's department, a call came through on the radio requesting them to respond to a home burglary alert. The address was in the 09 zip code and took them right by the house where the Kane family used to live. "We had a lot of good times there, didn't we?" Logan asked, sounding a bit nostalgic.

_Good and bad…_ "Yeah, we did," Veronica replied, trying to sound as sentimental as he seemed to be feeling.

"Remember how Lil used to intentionally throw the Frisbee into the rose garden that Celeste loved and then Duncan would get blamed for trampling the roses because he'd always be the one that would get caught recovering it?"

Veronica smiled and nodded. There were lots of things Lilly used to frame Duncan for.

"I remember all the sleepovers, and how you and Lil would make me and Duncan watch all those cheesy chick flicks with you?"

"Oh you loved it, and you know it!" Veronica teased back. Logan would always stay to finish the movie even if Duncan had scrambled off to bed before they were over. When they were older it was probably to make out with Lilly, but when they were younger, usually Veronica and Logan were the only two to stay awake through the entire movie. She wished she'd known at the time that one of the reasons Logan was there so often was to get away from Aaron.

"I remember one time you two conned me into letting you paint my nails."

Veronica laughed. "I think that happened more than once if I remember correctly. You always did look good in hot pink nail polish." Logan laughed and nodded as they pulled up to the house that the alarm company had called in the alert for.

From the driveway it didn't look like anyone was home, nor did it look like anyone had broken in. The call had said that it was a window on the back of the house that had set off the alarm system, though. The alarm company also reported that no one would be at home and that the family was out of town for the week. There was a gate on one side of the house that led into the backyard, while the other side was a solid fence. They cautiously headed through the gate, with their guns drawn just in case. These kind of calls were something that Veronica never had the chance to do when she was working in San Francisco and they still made her feel a bit uneasy, not knowing what they'd find around the back of the house. Logan took the lead and quietly made his way around to the back where the window was obviously still slightly ajar. He carefully looked in the window and shook his head, not finding anyone in that room.

They walked over and tried to open the door in the back that was near the open window, but found that it was still locked. Veronica whispered that she'd crawl in the window and then go and open the door for him since he was too large to easily climb through the window himself. At first he shook his head, but she gave him a stern look and started to boost herself through it anyway. She heard him mumble a soft 'fuck' under his breath as he helped her the rest of the way in. She could hear a TV on in a room on the other end of the house and quietly made her way to the door that Logan was waiting at. "There's a TV on… I don't think burglars would break in just to watch TV," she whispered as Logan walked in to join her. Logan glanced around the room for a moment and then let out a loud sigh. He put his gun back in his holster and walked toward the sound of the TV. Veronica wasn't quite as trusting and kept her gun out, though she carried it down at her side.

When Logan reached the doorway to what looked like a small den, he paused for a minute and just leaned against the door frame. The window blinds were all closed, so it was dark in the room even though it was still light outside. Logan stopped in the doorway and cleared his throat. Veronica heard a male voice gasp loudly and then say 'fuck'.

"Noah," Logan said as he reached next to the door and turned on the lights.

"Deputy Echolls," the teenager on the couch replied sheepishly and let out a loud sigh.

"So… what's going on?" Logan asked as he continued to lean against the doorframe watching the kid carefully. Veronica put her gun away since there didn't seem to be any danger and Logan knew who the boy was.

Noah let out a loud sigh. "Ella said she'd leave the window unlocked and turn off the alarm system in case I needed to… get away… while they were gone. I'm guessing she forgot to turn off the silent alarm?"

Logan nodded. "You know I can't let you stay here, unless you call and get permission from the Fosters."

Noah took a deep breath. "Are you going to arrest me if I don't call them?"

Logan shook his head. "No… but you can't stay here. I'll cover with the alarm company, but you can't come back okay? Is there someplace else you can go?"

Noah shook his head. "I'll just… go home. Can you not take me though? I promise I won't come back… but… if you take me home…"

"I get it. But you know there are people who can help you right? I can take you to Sraddha… you could talk to someone there."

Noah shook his head again. "It's just when he drinks… it's just easier to not be there."

"Okay… but if you ever change your mind. If he ever hurts you…"

"He doesn't," Noah interrupted quickly.

"Okay…" Logan replied with an understanding tone. "Do you want to crash with me and Heather tonight? You can stay in our guest room."

Noah looked uncertainly at him. "I don't know… I was just going to watch TV for a few hours and then go home later."

Veronica felt the uneasiness in her gut grow the more they talked. If he waited to go home later, whomever he was trying to avoid would probably be passed out by then and he wouldn't have to deal with them. She could sympathize with Noah given what she had to deal with regarding her own mom.

"I'll just go hang out at the beach for a while," Noah said as he turned off the TV and stood up from the couch. "Thanks… for… you know."

"Sure," Logan said as he gave him a soft pat on his shoulder as he walked by. "And remember… what I said." Noah nodded and gave Logan a small smile. "You can use the front door this time," Logan added as he gestured toward the front door with his head.

Noah glanced nervously at Veronica for a moment before he continued out of the house.

Logan let out a sigh and walked toward the back of the house to relock the window and back door. Veronica wandered slowly behind him. "I hope you were okay with that," Logan asked as he turned to look at her with a concerned expression on his face.

Veronica nodded. "I take it you know his situation at home?"

Logan nodded. "Yeah… his mom split when he was about 12 and his dad turned into an alcoholic shortly after. He's been in several of Heather's classes the last few years."

"No physical abuse though?"

"Not that I've ever been able to detect at least. He just tries to avoid him when he gets really bad. He's dating Ella Foster who lives here. Heather and Ella have been pretty good friends for the last few years."

It took Logan and Veronica a little while to work with the alarm company to get everything reset with the system and the house all locked up again.

"I'm sure he appreciates you looking out for him," Veronica commented as they climbed back into the squad car.

Logan nodded. "I just wish there was more I could do. I can't arrest his dad if he hasn't actually broken any laws. We both know how tough it is to live with a parent with substance abuse though." Veronica let out a sigh and nodded in reply.

"I think it's great how well you know what's going on with a lot of Heather's classmates. Bobby before and Noah now. I'm guessing there are others you've been keeping an eye on too?"

Logan shrugged but didn't reply. "You certainly aren't obligated to do anything like that Logan, but you do it anyway, which shows how much you care about them all," Veronica said with an encouraging smile. "It's just another example of how you're not as bad of a guy as you try to claim you are sometimes."

Logan gave her a small smile, and while she could tell he didn't agree one hundred percent, he didn't argue with her either at least.

When they finally made it back to the station, their shifts were just ending. "So did you want to go out for Thai, or just take out?" Logan asked as they walked through the parking lot.

Veronica shrugged. _Take out was probably less date-like, so maybe that would be better._ "Take out is fine if you just want to do that," she replied, still not sure how them talking about things later was going to turn out.

"I've got to drop Kayla's resume off at the foundation and talk with a few people there, but then I could pick up Thai food and either come over to your dad's or meet you at my place," Logan suggested as he stopped to open the door for her to walk inside.

Veronica wasn't sure if her dad might be around, and trying to have a difficult conversation with Logan might be challenging if he was there. "Your place is fine."

They agreed on what Logan would pick up for dinner before Veronica headed home to change clothes. She'd tried to forget about her run in with Dick the more the day went on, and, at this point, wasn't really sure she wanted to dredge it back up with Logan. Avoidance was always easier than confrontation. And having several hours to let the impact of what Dick said fade away was making her want to avoid it even more.

When she arrived at Logan's and rang the bell, Heather was the one to greet her.

"Hey Veronica," Heather said as she opened the door and gestured for her to come in. "Come on in. Logan called and said he was running a little late, and asked if I could stick around to let you in. I'm supposed to be meeting some friends at the beach though, so I'll be leaving shortly."

"Thanks," Veronica said as she walked in.

"Sure…" Heather said as she eyed Veronica a little suspiciously. Veronica wasn't really sure what the look was for and was about to ask what was going on when Heather spoke again. "So… did you enjoy your burrito?"

Veronica gave her a puzzled look for a second, but then realized what the expression had been for. It was highly unlikely that Logan had mentioned that Veronica had a burrito for lunch, and more likely that Heather knew about what happened earlier in front of the food truck. "How did…" Veronica started to ask, wondering how much Heather actually knew.

"Zach… Colton's friend who was at the BBQ the other day, saw you earlier today," Heather replied as she continued to look at Veronica judgmentally.

"Oh," Veronica replied, not really sure quite how to respond to that.

Heather finally shook her head and her expression became a bit more frustrated. "I don't understand how two people who clearly love each other can make things so difficult."

Veronica let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, me either." Then she sighed before she continued on. "But I don't think that he loves me as much as he used to… or it's just not enough to make him want to take a chance again. I don't know." Veronica paused for a moment before she continued. "Has he said anything to you… about me?"

Heather gave her a sympathetic look and shook her head. "No… I first met him… you know… when he took the break up back at Hearst _really_ hard… but then… like I said before… he seemed to be better after the first weekend I met him… but then something happened and he got all depressed and moody again, but he wouldn't tell me what caused it. He saw me as just a kid though, so I don't think he would have confided in me even if he hadn't totally blocked me out. Relationships are one thing he never discusses much with me, even now."

"Then what makes you think he still loves me now?" Veronica asked confused about Heather's earlier comment.

Heather's expression became almost sympathetic as she shrugged. "I can just tell."

"I don't know… sometimes I think that… but then… Maybe it's just become the type of love you have for someone who you've known for a better part of your life and you care a lot about what happens to them, but that's all there is to it."

Heather shook her head. "I think it's more than that."

Veronica shrugged in reply. "Well he's been pretty adamant that he just wants to be friends this time around. So whatever you think he might be feeling may not be how he really does feel."

Heather shook her head again. "Or he's just being his normal stubborn pain-in-the-ass self and trying to deny the inevitable."

"Or that…" Veronica mumbled softly.

Heather glanced at the phone she was holding. "I really do need to run. You'll be okay here on your own?" Veronica nodded in reply to Heather's question. "Okay… it was nice seeing you again. Hopefully you two will figure things out."

"Are you… going to tell him about what happened earlier?" Veronica asked, slightly concerned about what Logan's reaction might be if he found out about everything that was said between her and Dick.

Heather gave her a slightly frustrated look. "I think _you_ should tell him. Maybe if he hears how you really feel, things would be different than they are now."

Veronica shook her head slowly. "I more or less did tell him… that I wanted to try to be together again, and he's the one who said he didn't. But I will talk to him about some of the things that Dick said."

Heather shook her head and let out an annoyed huff. "I think you should talk to him about more than that Veronica."

"Okay… I'll try," Veronica responded, although she wasn't really sure she could.

Heather gave her a slightly disappointed look before she grabbed her bag and headed out the door.


	31. Chapter 31

_**A/N – I'm sorry to say that I'm probably going to continue to be a bit slower updating this story for a while longer. I'm really hoping to get a new chapter of Rocky Shores done, so I'm going to work on that next instead of this. So you will likely have to wait longer for the next chapter again. Like I said before, I do have several chapters of Marshmallows and Moonlight done, so at least I'll be able to post another chapter of that while I work on Rocky Shores. I'll probably put one of those up by Saturday at the latest.**_

_**Thanks also for all the help my fabulous beta, Bondopoulos has given me!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 31

After Heather left her alone at Logan's house, Veronica had way too much time on her hands and started to second-guess her decision to talk to Logan about what happened with Dick. At a couple points during her wait, she even considered just leaving him a note and going home. She knew though that leaving like that wasn't going to help things between them at all, so she forced herself to stay. When she finally heard the front door open, she took a deep breath and tried to relax.

"Hey, I'm so sorry…" Logan began before he even got all the way through the door. She'd taken a seat on one of the couches in the living room, and he must have been able to see her through the glass panels by his front door. "I really didn't think I'd get tied up at Sraddah as long as I did. It turns out that they are actually in dire need of a new psychologist and were really interested in Kayla, so the director asked me to share my experience working with her when she was at the Sheriff's office. And then when I was done, I gave Kayla a call to let her know they were planning to try to reach her in the morning to set up a formal interview tomorrow."

"Well that sounds great for Kayla," Veronica replied with as much enthusiasm as she could manage. A small part of her wondered how long he ended up talking to Kayla and whether they talked about more than just the job. It was yet another reminder about how hard it was going to be to just sit back and watch him be happy with someone else, even if in the end that was what was best for him.

"Yeah, I think she'd be a perfect fit working with the type of clients that come to them for help. She did a little work there when she was at Hearst, but they've had some turn over there recently, so the current director hadn't worked with her before. When she was working with us, I could tell that a lot of the people she would talk to really responded well to her. When those same people found out she'd graduated and moved to the east coast, they were very disappointed."

Veronica still couldn't get a sense of whether or not Logan might actually be interested in Kayla as more than a friend. He seemed grateful to get the chance to talk with her at lunch. It could have been because it was nice to talk with someone with her experience, or it could have been because he just enjoyed spending time with her. "You must have been disappointed when she left too?" Veronica asked, trying to gain a little bit of insight.

Logan gave her a slightly questioning glance and then must have decided to change the subject. "Yeah… um… do you want to eat in the house or out on the patio?" he asked as he started walking toward the kitchen, carrying the bags with their take-out Thai food.

"Either is fine with me," Veronica replied as she stood up from the couch and started following him.

"Can we be totally uncivilized and just eat in the living room on the couch?" Logan asked with a devious grin. "The chairs on the patio are fine, but none are as comfortable as the couch. I'd love nothing more than just to relax and eat, and then talk."

_Yeah, I'm with you on the first two at least._ "Sure, you know me… never one to complain about eating on a couch. I seem to recall many meals consumed on the couch at your suite at the Grand," she replied as she watched him set the bags on the counter. Logan smiled and nodded in reply. _I also remember lots of other things we did on that couch. Focus Veronica, not really helping with the trying-to-just-be-friends plan._

"If you want to grab something to drink, I'll grab plates and utensils. I've got beer, or wine, or several non-alcoholic options too," Logan commented as he started opening one of the cabinets.

"Beer sounds good to me," Veronica said as she headed to the fridge. "You too, or did you want something else?"

He said that he'd also take a beer as he pulled out two plates from the cabinet and opened a drawer for utensils. Veronica grabbed the two bottles of beer, and remembering where the bottle opener was from the night of the BBQ, grabbed that as well. She followed Logan back out to the living room where he started spreading the take-out containers on the coffee table and then took a seat on the couch closest to the table.

"Did you get a chance to talk with Leo before you left?" Logan asked as he was filling his plate with food. Leo had come back into the office right as Logan was leaving to take Kayla's resume over to Sraddah.

"Yeah, I gave him the update from the M.E. He's in agreement that we should bring Bethany in and see if we can rattle her with the new information," Veronica explained as she started filling her own plate with food. "Leo wanted to update the DA in the morning, and then we can proceed from there."

"I can't wait to watch her squirm," Logan said with a bitter expression. Veronica gave him a sympathetic look and nodded.

"So…" Logan started after he leaned back on the couch with the plate he'd filled sitting on his lap. He glanced down at his food and then back up into her eyes for a moment before looking away again. It was definitely his feeling-uncomfortable behavior. "I wanted to ask you something… but…" he shook his head and took a breath. "It's just… things between us have been so…"

"I know…" Veronica said interrupting him with an understanding expression. "I thought they were getting better though," she added.

"Yeah… they definitely are… and well that's why…" he paused again, doing the whole look her in the eyes for only a second before looking at his plate, or the wall behind her, or the kitchen, thing again. "Kayla said it's understandable for people with our history to have a tough time figuring out how to be friends again, so I guess it's normal."

_Ah Kayla… thanks for the helpful 'being friends' advice._ She tried not to let any irritation about that show, even though she would have rather had Kayla telling him he was being an idiot just trying to _only_ be friends with her. "So what did you want to ask me?"

"I um… I know that last night you said you were just worried about Brandon and Carmen, and that you weren't upset about Kayla spending time with us… with me… but I don't know… and if that did bother you… well, I don't want that to be an issue between us…"

"It's not, Logan. I'm perfectly okay with you spending time with Kayla. If I wasn't, would I have pushed you into going to lunch with her today?" Veronica replied as reassuringly as she could. She was starting to feel a bit like Jekyll and Hyde though, going back and forth between just wanting him for herself and wanting him to be happy with someone like Kayla.

"I know… I know you said that… but I still don't want it to be an issue for the two of us being friends. If I spend time with her too… as a friend, of course."

Veronica tried really hard not to react negatively, and, given the years of protecting herself by hiding her real emotions, she figured she was probably doing a reasonable job. "Of course that's not an issue. Really Logan. I think she's a great woman and having her in your life would be a good thing."

Logan finally stared into her eyes for more than a few seconds as he nodded in response. "Okay good. I was um… I was thinking I might see if she wanted to come bowling with us Thursday night. Only if that won't bother you at all."

Veronica swallowed the lump that involuntarily formed in her throat. "Yeah, you should ask her to come along." She paused a moment and grimaced slightly. "Oh, actually I think Norris and I have a later shift that night."

"Oh, I forgot. Norris did mention that the other day. But you'll still stop by, right? When you're finished with your shift?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah… sure. I could at least swing by on my way home," she suggested. It did make her feel a little better that it seemed like he genuinely wanted her to be there too.

"Good," he replied with a nod.

They both turned their attention back to their food and ate in silence for a few minutes. She couldn't help but think back to how she'd felt when he'd asked her if it was okay for him to ask Parker out. While this wasn't exactly the same, the whole 'I wanted to ask because we are friends' was eerily similar and left her feeling about as crappy as she had that day. She reminded herself though that he wasn't asking Kayla out on a date, and even if he was, that's what she had suggested he do. He was just asking Kayla to join the rest of the group for bowling night. But the fact that he felt he had to ask her was somewhat significant as well.

"Any interesting calls this morning?" Logan finally asked after taking a long drink from his beer.

Veronica thought back over the calls she went out on with Norris that morning. While they'd been busy, the calls had all been pretty mundane, run-of-the-mill type issues. She shook her head and took another bite of food. "You?" she asked, with her mouth still partly full.

He gave her an amused look before he replied. "Well we were called to Shady Oaks Retirement Center to deal with an intoxicated senior citizen who had commandeered one of the staff golf carts and was going for a joy ride outside of the facility. She was feisty for an octogenarian."

Veronica laughed and practically choked on the bite of food she'd taken.

"I already warned you earlier that I didn't want to have to Heimlich you," he told her with a smirk. "How is it that you haven't actually choked to death on something yet?"

Veronica shook her head and then took a drink of her beer. "I think it's significant that it only happens when I'm with _you_… you're not trying to kill me, are you?"

He gave her a sweet smile and shook his head. "Never. I'd definitely Heimlich you if needed me to."

Veronica laughed again. "Well I feel much better knowing you'd be there to save me… from you."

"It's the least I can do," he replied with a smug grin.

They continued eating, but were starting to noticeably slow down.

"So… are you ready to talk about what happened today with Dick?" Logan asked with a concerned look.

Veronica blew out a deep breath and poked at the remaining food on her plate. Even though she was anxious about how this conversation might go, she knew they needed to try. "Hmm… where to start…" Veronica replied a bit nervously.

Logan gave her a compassionate smile and reached over and squeezed her hand. "I don't want to push you… but I'm here for you if you do feel like talking."

"He um…" She paused and looked seriously at him, hoping this wasn't a mistake. "He basically said I was entirely to blame for all the self-destructive things you did after I left and… he didn't believe that I actually ever really… um… really cared about you." She took a deep breath and knew she was being a total coward trying to take the easy way out. "I mean… he didn't believe that I ever _loved_ you… which you know isn't true, right?"

Logan squeezed her hand a little tighter. "Veronica, we were so young and messed up back then. So many bad things kept happening to us… to the people we loved… after all this time, looking back at everything… I don't believe there really was any possible way for it to turn out any better than it did." He paused and looked somberly at her. "But I don't doubt that you cared about me and tried… tried to love me. But, like you told me once… we both came from such broken places… maybe it was too against our nature to give the kind of trust that two people who really loved each other should have given."

Veronica felt her heart hurt a little and she shook her head. She felt tears starting to form in her eyes and blinked trying to keep them from falling. It hurt to realize how much of an impact the things she'd done back then had really had on him. And hearing him indirectly say that he wasn't sure she really did love him hurt more than she could have ever imagined.

"Do you remember… you told me once that Lilly loved me… and I said it just wasn't the way I loved her?" Logan said in a low slightly shaky voice.

Veronica bit on her lip and took a deep breath. _Of course I remember, but that wasn't the same for the two of us_. He didn't wait for her to respond before he started talking again. "When you left…" Logan's voice broke slightly again. "When you left, I realized it was like that with us too… well I guess I didn't realize it when you first left… but later… I finally realized that."

Veronica felt a tear roll down her cheek. Logan let go of her hand and reached up and wiped the tear away then rested his hand gently on her knee. "But it's okay… I know you loved me… as much as you could."

Veronica finally found her voice again, though it was so broken and soft. "But I _did_ love you… I _do_ love you… as much as you loved me."

Logan gave her a sad look and shook his head. "I know you loved me as much as you could Veronica… but… but I _never_ could have left you… but you did… you left me… left Neptune. You left and told me to stay out of your life."

Veronica took a sharp breath before she spoke again. It was another reminder of all the people who had left him before and how she was just like the rest of them. "I'm sorry Logan… I already told you that before…but I can't change any of that now…" she replied softly. She wanted to make him understand that it didn't mean that she'd leave again or that she didn't love him as much as he had loved her. "But I can prove to you things would be different now… if you'd just let me."

"Dick wasn't entirely wrong about how destructive I was after you left. But blaming you for that isn't fair. I'm sorry he did that," Logan commented as he looked away from her and down at the table again. She was a bit thrown by him seeming to just ignore what she had just said to him. "Like I said the other night... I don't think I'd be able to survive losing you again..." He turned back to look at her again and she could see how hard this was for him and the conflicting emotions in his face. "It means so much to hear you say that you still... It's just..." Logan paused a moment and seemed to be searching her face for something, but she wasn't sure what. "We've been working so well together and I know this being friends thing has been bumpy, but I feel like we are figuring out how to make that work too... And it would just kill me if we destroyed all that. Does that make any sense at all?"

She looked at him in silence for a few seconds before she answered. "Yeah," she said softly and impulsively reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. He momentarily closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he opened them again and gave her a small smile. She thought about the advice she'd just given to Brandon the night before about being patient with people. Logan seemed so convinced she would just abandon him again if things got tough, and she couldn't really blame him. All she could do was show him that she wouldn't. "But I promise you… that no matter what, I'm not going to just disappear out of your life again."

He smiled a little more and nodded. "Good. I hope you understand that being friends is the only way I know how to not totally fuck it up again."

Veronica shook her head. "Like you said... We were both young and stupid back then. But we've both grown up so much." She still had her hand on his face and gently rubbed her thumb along his cheek. "I know you're different now... better now. I wish I could convince you that I'm different too, but I realize I haven't really shown that have I?" He gave her a puzzled look before she continued. "I know I didn't trust you enough all those years ago, and as soon as I came back I started making false assumptions about you. I'm sorry and I want to show you that I can be different too."

He nodded, but she could tell that he looked a little skeptical. He reached up and put his hand on top of hers. "I did plenty of things to not deserve your trust back then," he said somberly.

"Let's just focus on now... and the future, okay?" Veronica said with a hopeful expression. "Let the past go... at least the bad parts."

He nodded and smiled a bit more. "I'd never want to forget the good parts."

She smiled and nodded as well. "Me either."

"Want some dessert?" Logan asked with a sly smile. "We still have leftover birthday cake."

"Are you trying to distract me with sweets?" she asked. She quirked an eyebrow at him and patted his cheek playfully and then put her hand back on her lap. "We didn't actually talk about what you did when I left."

"I thought we just said we were leaving the past alone?" Logan asked a bit hesitantly. "I'm not that guy now... I'm really sorry that Dick made you feel guilty about that. I'm sorry for lots of fucked up things Dick has done." She watched him clench his jaw tightly and saw a bit of darkness cross his face.

"You don't have to apologize for him. What he's done isn't your fault. I know that and I don't blame you," she said reassuringly.

"Did he say anything else to you today?" he asked, looking a bit more concerned again.

Veronica shrugged. She still wasn't sure how to interpret Dick's comment about Bex. Logan was waiting for her to reply, and she could tell he was getting more anxious by the second. "You know Dick... sometimes he doesn't make a lot of sense."

His expression became less anxious but remained concerned. "What else did Dick say?" Logan asked hesitantly.

"He um... He seemed to think you broke up with Bex because of me... I guess he thought that because of something Addison told him."

"Oh..." Logan looked down at the table again.

"Did you?" Veronica asked a bit tentatively, not really sure how to interpret his reaction.

He turned back toward her and gave her a grim look. "Fights with Bex were never simple enough to be about one single thing."

"That's not really an answer," Veronica replied as she looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face.

Logan let out a sigh. "Sort of... Yes... I guess." He shrugged before he continued. "I guess I was distracted by the argument you and I were having when she arrived and then I wasn't giving her my full attention at dinner... My mind was stuck on the case and talking to you about it… and then... I may have accidentally called _her_ by your name."

Veronica tried not to let a delighted smile form on her lips. "I'm sure she _hated_ that," she replied as she felt the corner of her lip quirk up.

Logan looked a bit amused as well as he nodded. "Yeah... So the whole thing about her not knowing your name... She yelled it several times when that happened, so I'm pretty sure she knew it... As did most of the restaurant we were at by the end of the conversation."

Veronica laughed softly imagining how angry Bex must have been.

After a few minutes the lighthearted, amused smile that had been on Logan's face slowly vanished and he looked at her with worry again. "So we're okay, right? This being friends thing…"

"Yeah," she replied with a slight nod. "But we'd be better with birthday cake," she added with a sly smile.

Logan chuckled and reached out to hug her for a few seconds. "Ice cream too?" he asked as he leaned away and smiled at her.

"Of course. Like you had to ask."

He chuckled as he stood up and picked up their plates. She stood too and started gathering up the take out containers.

"So..." Logan asked a bit nervously when they made it back to the kitchen. He sat the plates down by the sink and turned toward her. "Did you need to head home soon, or did you want to stay and watch a movie? I'll let you choose."

"Even some cheesy chick flick?" Veronica teased in reply.

"Even if you want a cheesy chick flick," he confirmed with an amused smile.

She pretended to be thinking hard. "Do I get to paint your nails?"

Logan momentarily glanced up at the ceiling as if he was hoping for help from a higher power. "Is that going to be a deal breaker?" he asked with a grimace.

She laughed and shook her head. "Nah... I didn't bring any hot pink nail polish with me." She paused for a moment and then added playfully, "Although Heather probably has some, doesn't she?" She waggled her eyebrows playfully at him.

"If you _absolutely_ insist on it to agree to stay, can we just do toes and not fingers," he asked with a defeated laugh. "I have to work hard enough to keep my cred up at the station as it is."

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "I sort of doubt that, but I'll give you a pass this time... At least on the polish, not necessarily my movie choice."

"So you'll stay?" he asked with a hopeful tone.

"Yeah," she replied with a tender smile. "I'll stay."

He dished up two large bowls of cake and ice cream and then they took them to the media room. "Heather has a bunch of movies you can choose from, or we can find something on-demand too," Logan said as he pointed to a cabinet with DVDs. She started walking toward the cabinet when something caught her eye and she laughed.

"What?" Logan asked turning in the direction Veronica was looking. "Oh shit…" he grumbled under his voice, causing her to laugh even more.

"Yours?" she asked as she pointed to the basket of nail polish on the table next to the couch. She quirked her eyebrows and stared down at his feet suggestively.

He shook his head and laughed at her. "No… they're Heather's. I forgot they were in here."

Veronica sauntered over to the basket and poked around the bottles until she pulled out a hot pink one. "Perfect," she said as she shook the bottle in front of him.

"You know the rules though," he said with a questioning smirk. "If you do mine, I get to do yours."

Veronica gave him a questioning look. "I don't remember that being a rule. And I remember the last time you tried to paint my toenails when we were 14. There was more polish on my toes than my toenails."

"Believe it or not, I've gotten much better. Heather actually makes me paint her toenails sometimes when I lose bets."

Veronica gave him a skeptical look.

"You pick a movie and I'll paint your toes after we finish our dessert," Logan said as he sat the bowls down on the table and grabbed the remotes.

"I was just teasing Logan… we can just watch the movie," she said as she put the polish back in the basket and walked over to the cabinet and started looking at the movie choices. Veronica grabbed '27 Dresses' and handed Logan the case.

"At least you didn't pick a Conner Larkin movie," Logan teased as he put the DVD in the player.

"Wait… she has a Conner Larkin movie?" Veronica asked with her best fan girl impression.

Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No… I'm sure the answer is _No_."

Veronica laughed and picked up one of the bowls as she sat down in the middle of the couch. Logan picked up the other one and sat down next to her, on the end that the basket of nail polish was located. Logan finished his dessert first and sat his bowl on the table in front of the couch. He reached down and grabbed Veronica's feet and pulled them up into his lap, causing her to spin in her seat.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a surprised expression.

"What do you think I'm doing?" he asked as he unzipped her boot to he could take it off. "I thought you were a better detective than that."

He set her boot down on the floor and started to take off her sock. She tried pulling her foot away. "You really don't have to do that. I was just teasing earlier."

"Stop squirming. What? Do you not want me to see your feet?" Logan asked with a laugh.

"Fine," she said as she shook her head and stopped trying to pull her foot away from him. "I can't believe you actually want to do this though. The movie isn't that bad."

"I know… but I've seen it like half a dozen times with Heather. Plus, the goth receptionist is a dead ringer for Gia, and I really don't need any nightmares, so…" He pulled off her other boot and sock then grabbed the basket of polish. "Your choice," he said as he handed the basket to her.

She laughed softly as she found a clear polish and handed it to him.

"Well that doesn't show much trust," he commented with a faux pout. She rolled her eyes at him and grabbed a deep red one for him to use instead. "Much better," he said as he took the red one and the basket back from her.

She kept glancing at Logan every few minutes, completely amused by how focused he was on painting her toes. She tried not to imagine what used to happen when he'd offer to give her a foot massage when they were dating. Having his hands gently holding her feet was becoming quite a distraction though.

"Done," he announced after a while. He'd grabbed one of the throw pillows and put it under her feet on his lap before he'd started painting her toes. He'd also placed a couple pillows behind her so that she could lie back against them while he was working on her toes. She, of course, was supposed to be watching the movie, but she had been watching him too. "But don't move them until they are dry," he added when she started to pull her feet back. "I don't want you to mess up my masterpieces."

Veronica chuckled and glanced down at her toes. "What did you do?" She sat up more so she could see them better.

"Careful," he said as he grabbed her ankles so her feet wouldn't move.

"Hearts, Logan?" Veronica asked with a laugh when she figured out that he'd put swirly white hearts on each of her two big toes.

"Hearts are easier than flowers," he explained nonchalantly making Veronica laugh again. She shook her head and laid back down on the pillows and turned toward the movie again. He carefully shifted so he could put his legs up on the coffee table in front of them, while keeping her feet still on the pillow. "You're going to have to stay for a second movie now since you can't put your boots back on," Logan commented as he stretched his arms out along the back of the couch.

"Of course I will," she grumbled as she gave him a faux annoyed look. She actually didn't mind hanging out for a while longer since it was still pretty early and she didn't have to work very early the next morning. But she couldn't help pretending that it was an annoyance.

"Do I get to pick out the movie this time?" Logan asked hopefully as the current movie was getting close to the end.

"No," Veronica replied as if that was a ridiculous request. "You're the one who insisted on painting them, which trapped me here, so I get to pick."

"Fine…" he replied with a slight huff. "I apologize in advance if you pick something that causes me to fall asleep and my snoring disrupts you. Maybe we should put subtitles on this time."

Veronica rolled her eyes and shook her head.

When '27 Dresses' was over, Logan grabbed the remote off the end table. "Let's just pick something online this time, so I don't have to get up," he announced as he switched over to the on-demand menu. Veronica reached over and snatched the remote from him and started scrolling through the choices. Every time she paused on another chick flick, Logan would make fake snoring noises.

She finally started 'Tucker and Dale vs. Evil', earning a big smile and a silent 'thank you' from Logan.

They were about halfway through the movie when Veronica heard a door close loudly somewhere else in the house. A few minutes later, Heather's head popped into the doorway.

"You're cutting it a little close, aren't you?" Logan asked as Heather walked in and plopped down on the other couch.

"I still have 2 minutes, Freckles. Chill out." Heather answered as she gave him an annoyed glare. Veronica watched as Heather seemed to be trying to discretely figure out what was going on between Logan and herself. Heather turned back toward the TV after a minute though and she made a disgruntled sound. "You made her watch _this_ movie?" Heather asked as she shook her head. "Classy, Freckles."

"Hey… she picked it, not me," Logan protested. "And she did watch that dress movie first." He paused a moment before he continued in a more defensive tone. "Plus, this one's hilarious."

A sly grin spread across Heather's face as she turned to look at them again. "And I see you found something to do to occupy your time when _that dress movie_ was on."

"Don't you need to go finish some homework or something?" Logan asked in about the same tone Heather had used on him when he barged in on her and her friends playing pool.

"Nope," Heather replied, popping the P the same way Logan frequently did. "All done… and while my curfew may be 10, I don't think I've had an enforced bedtime since I was 14."

"Maybe we should change that," Logan said thoughtfully, causing Heather to pick up a small pillow and throw it at him.

"Hey!" Logan yelled as he curved his body protectively over Veronica's toes. "If you mess these up, I really will send you to bed."

Both Veronica and Heather laughed at him for a few seconds before they all quieted down and started watching the movie again. Logan had shifted down a bit more on the couch, and Veronica's feet, still on the pillow, were resting more on his stomach now and she could feel them bounce slightly every time he laughed. After protecting them from Heather's pillow, he left one hand across her ankles, even in his new position. She tried not to think too much about the warmth of his palm and how every once in a while his thumb would move slightly over the surface of her foot sending a sense of tender familiarity through her.

Heather stayed for a little while, adding her own commentary as ridiculous things kept happening in the movie. She finally stood up and said she was going up to her room after her phone had buzzed. She exchanged a quick goodbye with Veronica and goodnight with Logan before she disappeared out of the room.

"Your toes should be dry enough now," Logan commented when the ending credits started playing on the screen.

Veronica gave him a sly smile. "I've got some flip-flops in the car. I'll slip them on before I drive home so I don't ruin your handiwork," she replied as she sat up more and pulled her feet back toward her to run her fingers carefully over the little hearts on her toes.

A tender smile spread across Logan's face, likely realizing that she could have taken off after the first movie if she'd wanted to.

"Well, I'd better head home," Veronica said a bit awkwardly as she stood up from the couch. Logan nodded and picked up her boots to hand to her. She smiled thinking back to how she'd watched him carefully roll up her socks and put each one in a boot. "Thanks," she said as she reached out and took them from him.

He led the way back to the front door where she'd left her bag when she arrived. She put the strap over her shoulder and gave him a tender smile. "Thanks for dinner… and for painting my toes," she said as she looked up at him.

"Yeah… thanks for talking too," he replied almost hesitantly. She could tell he felt slightly uneasy but she wasn't sure why. He gave her a bigger smile, doing the half head turn thing that he did sometimes when he was nervous and then leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. "Drive safely," he said as he took a step away from her after the quick kiss. She nodded as he opened the door for her.

"Goodnight Logan," she said softly as she walked passed him toward her car. She couldn't help but wish he'd grabbed her and pulled her back for a real kiss, but, of course, that's not what friends do.

_**A/N – I hadn't actually watched 27 Dresses before, but watched the trailer when I finally did pick it. I was totally surprised that the song that plays in the first half of the trailer is the same song that played in LoVe's big romantic library scene. And then I also had to make a comment about Krysten Ritter being in it too (the goth receptionist).**_


	32. Chapter 32

_**A/N – I can't express how appreciative I am of everyone reading and reviewing. I'm always happy to try to answer questions when I can too, so if there's anything you'd like to have clarified, just be sure to be logged in so I can reply (FF). I'm also happy that I have the next two chapters mostly done, so I should be able to do weekly updates on this for the next few weeks at least. I know everyone is anxious for LoVe, but there's a case to solve too, so I'm trying to balance both parts of the story. And my fabulous beta, Bondopoulos, who I couldn't do this with out, has said she loves Chapter 34, so hopefully you all will too when we get there.**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 32

Veronica smiled down at her toes as the shower's hot water sprayed over her shoulders. She still couldn't believe that Logan had actually painted her toes, let alone took the time to add swirly hearts to them. She shook her head, thinking about how protective of them he'd been when Heather tried to throw the pillow at him. Even if he was claiming not to want to be together again, there were certainly things between them that felt more intimate than just casual friends. She still hoped that if she gave him some time he'd gain confidence in her, in them, and then he'd agree that they really should be more than just friends again. Regardless of what Veronica thought of Bex, he had just broken up with her a few days before and surely needed a little time to deal with that.

When she'd returned from Logan's the night before, she'd been surprised that her dad had been home. He'd just been getting ready to go to bed, though, so they hadn't talked much. As she climbed out if the shower, she could smell the aroma of bacon and coffee drifting through the house. _It smells so much better when someone else cooks it for me._

"So, dearest daughter," Keith said as she walked into the kitchen, headed over to pour herself a cup of coffee. "Got any plans tonight, or do you think you could join us for Darrell's first basketball game of the season? I know he'd love for you to be there."

Veronica smiled fondly, thinking back to her days watching Wallace play and how proud he must be of his little brother now. "Yeah, I could do that. I've got no plans tonight."

Keith smiled approvingly at her as he dished up the bacon and eggs that he'd finished cooking. "Terrific. It means a lot to me also," he added softly before his expression changed and he gave her a mischievous smile. "Wallace could probably use your support too since he's planning to bring his lady friend that he has yet to introduce to his mom or me."

_Well that should be interesting._ Veronica didn't realize that Wallace hadn't introduced Amira to Alicia yet. Veronica had assumed that she was the only one Wallace was trying to keep his new relationship a secret from. In retrospect though, she should have noticed that nothing specific had been said about Amira at the family dinners that she'd attended either.

Veronica gave Keith a quick update on her cases as they ate breakfast together. Her phone dinged when they were almost finished eating, and she glanced at it to see who the text was from. A smile involuntarily formed on her face when she saw 'coffee?' from Logan. Her dad gave her a questioning expression as she looked back up after sending Logan a quick reply. She narrowed her eyes in a 'don't judge me' look, to which he just shook his head and went back to eating.

Logan was already at the station when she arrived a short while later. He grinned and gave her a quick little wave as he and Doug headed toward the door to go out on a call. She spotted a coffee and small paper bag on her desk and mouthed a silent thanks to him before he left.

A few minutes after Logan and Doug had left, Leo returned from talking to the DA. He called Veronica and Norris into his office to let them know that the DA agreed with the plan to charge Bethany Donaldson for her husband's murder based on the evidence they now had and her earlier statement that she was the only other person on the yacht. Given that the weapon was thrown overboard and matched indentations on Benjamin's skull it was very probable that he'd been intentionally hit and dumped in the ocean. Leo also told them that, considering Logan's relationship with both Benjamin and Bethany, he didn't want him directly interacting with Bethany. When Veronica protested about not letting Logan be involved, Leo at least agreed to let him watch them interrogate Bethany through the one way glass if he was there. Veronica really hoped Logan would be back from his other call when they brought her in since he'd been such an integral part of the case so far.

When Norris and Veronica arrived at the Donaldson estate, they were met at the front door by a petite blonde girl. The girl bore a striking resemblance to Bethany but looked a little younger.

"Can I help you?" the blonde asked with a polite smile.

The two deputies introduced themselves and asked if Bethany was available. The petite blonde introduced herself as Bethany's sister Bridget and gestured for them to come in.

"As you can imagine, she's had a very difficult time dealing with Benji's death," Bridget explained as she led the way. "She's in the sunroom with Nicky."

Veronica couldn't help but wonder how difficult it actually was for Bethany, because it seemed as though she was the one to instigate it. _Perhaps having the case still open was more difficult than the death itself._ Veronica also wondered who Nicky might be, but that question was quickly answered as she saw Dominick sitting on a couch across from Bethany. While Veronica wasn't terribly surprised to find Dominick there, she was a bit thrown off by Bridget walking over and sitting right next to him. She was even more surprised when Dominick wrapped his arm protectively around the concerned looking younger sister and placed a quick kiss on her temple.

Norris, who was holding the arrest warrant, began to explain why they were there and then read Bethany her rights. As expected, Bethany became completely distraught, insisting that she hadn't done anything. Dominick quickly stepped in and told her not to worry and to wait for her attorney to arrive before she said anything. Bridget also tried to be reassuring, but was clearly upset that her sister was being arrested. Dominick said that he and Bridget would come down to the station as soon as he reached her attorney. Since Bethany was being cooperative, Veronica and Norris led her to the police car without cuffs and then had to endure her crying all the way back to the station.

Once they arrived at the sheriff's office, they led Bethany back to an empty holding cell to wait for her attorney to arrive. Veronica was glad to see that Logan had made it back as well and saw him shaking his head slightly as they led the dramatically sobbing Bethany to the back. It was clear from his expression that he wasn't buying her helpless and distraught act.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Veronica asked Logan as Norris headed for his own desk. Norris must have been able to guess that Veronica wanted to give Logan a quick update on what had happened at the house, and he gave them an understanding smile as he took a seat at his desk.

Logan nodded and then followed Veronica into an interrogation room where she closed the door behind her.

"Do you know Bethany's sister, Bridget?" Veronica asked in a low voice once the door clicked shut.

Logan shook his head. "I remember hearing her mentioned once or twice, but never really met her. I think she was at the wedding, but it was a huge event and I didn't stick around very long after the ceremony. I hadn't even wanted to go, but Heather guilted me into it."

Veronica informed him of what had happened at the house. "Do you think he's been sleeping with both of them?" Veronica asked with a puzzled expression.

Logan shrugged before he answered. "I've never liked the guy so it wouldn't really surprise me."

"Maybe we should check into the sister just in case," Veronica suggested.

Logan nodded in agreement before they headed back out to their desks. Veronica pulled out the case file when she sat down, and then started searching online for information about Bridget Campbell, assuming she had the same last name as Bethany's maiden name. She quickly located Bridget in the Nevada DMV system with an address near Las Vegas. She was two years younger than Bethany and worked for a marketing company based out of New York, with offices in both Vegas and LA. She didn't uncover anything suspicious about Bridget and wondered how long she'd been involved with Dominick. Bridget didn't seem to have any social media accounts that might provide any clues around that unfortunately, at least none that Veronica could find easily.

Veronica was facing her computer screen when she heard Logan mumble "fucking great" under his breath. She turned in the direction he was looking and spotted the source of his annoyance. A middle-aged man in an expensive suit had just walked up to the reception counter with Sebastian by his side. _Of course Bethany would be represented by Sebastian's law firm, wouldn't she?_ Sebastian briefly looked in Veronica's direction before he glanced back at the counter. The receptionist led the two men to one of the smaller conference rooms and then asked if one of the deputies could retrieve their client for them. Norris said he'd get Bethany and headed toward the holding cells.

Veronica smiled slightly to herself, without realizing Logan had turned to look at her. He gave her a questioning look as she glanced at him. She shrugged before she answered. "I was just thinking it was nice that Sebastian got assigned to my case so I wouldn't have to deal with him on a personal level for a while."

Logan chuckled and nodded with a smug grin in his face. It was quite apparent that he was also happy about that.

After meeting with Bethany for about thirty minutes or so, the middle-aged lawyer came out of the room. "My client would like to make a revision to her previous statement about what happened on the yacht the night her husband went missing."

Veronica and Norris both nodded before they stood up from their desks. Veronica said they would move Bethany to the larger interrogation room before taking her revised statement and that she would let the sheriff know as well. Norris had let Leo know the lawyers were in with Bethany after they arrived, and they were all more or less anticipating that this would happen. Leo went into the room with Norris and Veronica, but as discussed earlier, Logan was only allowed to listen and watch from the adjoining observation area. When Veronica entered the room, the man she didn't know introduced himself as Grant Foster. Sebastian gave Veronica a quick look as she took a seat at the table, but she did her best to not really acknowledge him at all.

As expected, Bethany revised her statement to say that Dominick had also been out on the yacht with them the night that Benjamin fell overboard. She steadfastly stuck to her earlier statement that she'd been too out of it to know what had happened though. She claimed that Dominick thought it might look suspicious that he'd been on board and had encouraged her not to say anything about it before. Her statement was accompanied by additional claims that she loved her husband and would never have hurt him.

When asked why Dominick had not gone to dinner with them, Bethany said that he'd started feeling ill shortly before they'd reached Catalina and he had decided to just stay onboard the yacht. Originally her sister was supposed to have come along too, but she was delayed in driving down to Neptune from LA, so they had left without her. Bethany also claimed not to know why Dominick would have hurt Benjamin, and that she didn't see or hear anything that would confirm that he had. She also said that she'd been the one to wake Dominick up in the morning when she couldn't find her husband.

Grant said they'd be working on getting bail posted for Bethany as both he and Sebastian stood up from the table. Norris escorted Bethany back to a holding cell while Leo and Veronica stayed in the interrogation room. As soon as the lawyers were gone, Leo gestured for Logan to come in.

"Dominick's out in the reception area, waiting to see what's going on with Bethany, if you want me to bring him in," Logan told them as he walked in.

Leo nodded and a few minutes later Dominick was sitting at the table. They informed him that they had some questions for him and he said he'd be happy to answer them. Leo told him of Bethany's claim that he had been on the yacht the night Benjamin was allegedly murdered.

Dominick let out a deep sigh and shook his head. "She's clearly either delusional or just outright lying," he said in a disappointed tone. "I wasn't on the yacht. I was at their house though. I was with Bridget all night. She can confirm that for you. She's in the lobby waiting for me."

Leo had allowed Logan to stay in the back of the room behind Dominick this time, and Veronica watched as his eyebrow rose up in a suspicious manner. Leo gestured at Logan to go and retrieve Bridget. Leo asked Dominick to wait there while they talked to Bethany's sister in another room. Logan returned a minute later with Bridget and led her into the other interrogation room. She confirmed that she was with Dominick all night on Saturday. She also confirmed what Bethany had said about her being delayed coming down from LA. But instead of Dominick going out with them, Bridget claimed that he'd stayed at their house and waited for her. The deputies thanked both Dominick and Bridget for their cooperation and said that they may contact them later with further questions.

Logan, Leo, Norris and Veronica all reconvened in Leo's office. "Can we hook them _all_ up to a polygraph?" Veronica asked with an annoyed expression. Logan gave her a smug grin in reply, likely thinking the same thing.

"Well I certainly didn't expect that," Logan added thoughtfully. "I'm not surprised Dominick would deny being there, but was surprised that her sister was his alibi."

"Yeah, can't say I expected that either," Veronica replied as she tapped her pen against the arm of the chair she was sitting in.

"I'll head over and give the DA an update. Even if we get DNA off the weapon that matched Dominick's, he could claim it was from a prior fishing trip. This one's going to be difficult to prove if we can't find some other evidence," Leo told the three of them. "I wonder if anyone saw him going out on the yacht with them. Maybe one of the neighbors spotted them leaving, or have surveillance systems that could have picked them up from shore. Norris and Veronica, why don't you head out to see what you can find," Leo instructed the two partners. "And Logan, I guess you can try to dig up anything helpful on her sister or Dominick," Leo added before the three of them headed out of his office.

Veronica and Norris didn't have much luck with the neighbors, but did get approval from two of the nearby residences to contact their security companies to get copies of their surveillance footage. It was a long shot that they would be able to see anything based on the positions of their cameras, but it was better than nothing. Unfortunately the security system at the Donaldson estate only focused on the entrance to the house. Apparently the Donaldsons were more concerned about privacy than actual security.

Logan was at his desk when Veronica and Norris made it back to the station. He gave them a satisfied grin as they walked in. "Any luck?" Logan asked as they headed toward him.

Veronica shrugged. "Maybe some possible long shots. You, however, look rather pleased with yourself."

Logan smiled a little and shrugged as well. "I found Bridget's Instagram account."

Veronica made a slightly annoyed face since she had tried to find Bridget's social media accounts earlier and had failed.

Logan must have interpreted her look correctly and gave her a sheepish shrug. "She goes by desertflower on there."

Veronica gave him an astonished look and shook her head. "And how on Earth did you figure that out?"

Logan smiled a bit more and shrugged again. "I guess I have a knack for finding otherwise trivial things. I looked up the listing of her coworkers and luckily one had an account that was easy to find that wasn't private and I searched that person's tagged friends."

"So you're an expert social media stalker?" Veronica asked with an amused tone to which he shook his head, but still kept the smug smile. "So anything useful besides duck face selfies?" Veronica asked next.

"Well it looks like she hooked up with Dominick _way_ before Bethany even showed up in Neptune. Surprisingly though, there weren't very many pictures of dear old sis on there with her. And I found a couple comments on the few that Bethany was in that suggested Bridget's friends knew she wasn't too fond of her dear sis not too long ago, either. It seems as though their current closeness as sisters has been a fairly recent thing."

"Hm... Did you check into Bethany's will?" Veronica asked next with an inquisitive expression on her face.

Logan smiled more and nodded slowly. "Follow the money? Yeah, about six months ago Bethany wrote up her first and only will and left everything to Bridget. Their parents both died several years ago in a car accident and apparently Bethany never got around to updating it after getting married."

"I'm guessing she might try to change it now when she finds out her sister's providing Dominick with an alibi," Veronica replied thoughtfully. Norris nodded at her in agreement.

"Although, if they could get her declared mentally unstable they might be able to prevent that," Logan added. "I sort of overheard Bridget talking to what sounded like a psychiatrist on the phone. She said that Bethany was delusional again and they were worried about what being behind bars was going to do to her already very fragile state. And then shortly after that her lawyer called Leo and said they were requesting to transfer Bethany to the psych ward at Neptune Memorial because her sister claimed that Bethany had been suicidal before the arrest and was worried she might do something drastic now."

Veronica looked thoughtfully at Logan. "When you dated her, did you get any sense that she could be a little unstable like that?"

Logan shrugged before he replied. "I only went out with her two or three times. But if she's been seeing a psychiatrist all this time, even if Dominick was on the yacht, Dominick and Bridget might be able to pass it off as her being delusional or lying."

Veronica nodded. She'd love to be able to sneak a peek at Bethany's psychiatric records, but being a deputy now, she was limited to doing things strictly by the books. Although she suspected that eventually the DA's office would be able to get information like that. "Let's hope that when we get the security footage we pick up something to help us. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to believe that Bethany really didn't have anything to do with killing Benjamin." She looked at Logan with a concerned expression wondering how he was going to react to that. She knew that he'd had a pretty strong opinion about Bethany's involvement in the case before.

"It's beginning to look that way," Logan replied with a grim expression. "But maybe there's something else we're missing."

Veronica and Norris nodded in agreement. Norris said he'd go and call the security companies to get moving on obtaining the security footage, which left Logan and Veronica alone for a few minutes.

"Hey, if you don't have plans tonight, do you want to come and watch Darrel's basketball game with me?" Veronica asked with a hopeful expression.

Logan gave her a disappointed look before he answered. "Sorry, but I've got a board meeting at Sraddah tonight. But maybe I could join you for his next game."

"Yeah… sure. No worries," she answered with a reassuring smile.

They were heading back to their desks when Kayla entered the station. She beamed at Logan first and then gave a friendly smile to Veronica as well.

"Hi," Kayla said sounding a little more bubbly with just that one word than Veronica remembered her being the other night at the bar. "I wanted to stop by to thank you in person. And I brought you something too…" she said as she continued to smile at Logan. She quickly glanced at Veronica before she continued. "Although there's plenty to go around." She held up a small pink pastry box as she focused back on Logan. "I picked up some deluxe brownies from Twiggs. I know you used to love them. I'm so grateful for everything you've been doing to get me a position at Sraddah, Logan."

Veronica watched Logan's reaction carefully. His smile was relaxed as he shook his head slightly. "You really didn't need to do that Kayla," he told her.

"I know I didn't. But I wanted to. So just take them okay? I'm sure they'll disappear in no time if you put them out for the other deputies," Kayla said with a resolute tone as she handed the box to him. Veronica couldn't help but notice that her fingers lingered on top of Logan's for a few seconds before she let go of the box and pulled her hand away.

"So, did they offer you the position?" Logan asked as he glanced between Kayla and the box.

"I think they need to get approval from the full board tonight. You have a meeting, right?" Kayla asked in reply and Logan answered with a nod. "Mr. Denton said he'd call me in the morning because he wasn't sure how late the meeting would go. Of course you could always give me a heads up tonight if you wanted to call when you get out of the meeting," she continued with a sly smile. "Or you could swing by if that's easier too."

"We'll see," Logan replied noncommittally.

"Okay. Well I hope I'll see you later," Kayla replied with a smile, not at all phased by Logan's evasiveness. "It was nice seeing you again, Veronica," she added as turned and smiled at her. "I hope you enjoy the brownies." She gave them both a quick wave before she turned and headed out of the station.

"Brownie?" Logan offered as he held the box in Veronica's direction. Veronica shrugged and tried to act like she didn't really want one, which only made Logan laugh at her.

"Seriously Mars, when have you ever turned down deluxe brownies from Twiggs?" Logan asked with an amused tone, causing Veronica to roll her eyes at him.

"Fine," she said a bit defiantly as she stepped closer to look in the box that Logan was opening. Twiggs really did make some of the best brownies that she'd ever eaten. They were all in individual little paper holders, and he pulled one out and handed it to her with a satisfied smile.

"I think I'll hide these in my desk so the other guys won't devour them. If Heather finds out I had these and didn't save any for her, I'm afraid she might murder me in my sleep."

Veronica laughed and gave him a devious grin. "Well rest assured, I'd be sure to help her get away with it, since that really would be a justifiable homicide."

Logan laughed harder and shook his head at her. "Thanks. I feel so much better knowing that." He turned and headed back to his desk, pulling open the bottom drawer so he could hide the brownies there.

The rest of their shifts went by quickly with only a few other calls coming in. The soonest that they would be able to get the security footage wasn't until the following day, so there wasn't much else for them to do on the Donaldson case.

Logan's shift was over before Veronica's, so he said a quick goodbye before he headed out and told her to have fun at the basketball game. She couldn't help but wonder if he would end up going to see Kayla after his meeting, but didn't pry or push him about it. She really did hate how conflicted she felt about the situation. _Why did Kayla have to come back into Logan's life now?_

When Veronica finally made it home, her dad was just arriving as well. He suggested that she ride with him to the game, since parking at the middle school was a challenge on game nights. After she quickly changed into more casual clothes, they headed over to Alicia's to pick up Alicia and Darrel to take them to the school too. Darrel was very excited about the game and talked almost non-stop all the way there. Alicia gave him a warm smile and wished him luck, but refrained from embarrassing him with an overbearing goodbye as he quickly joined the rest of his team as soon as they walked into the school. Veronica could see Alicia physically struggling with holding back from giving him a big hug before he ran off.

Wallace and Amira were already sitting on the bleachers as Keith, Alicia and Veronica walked into the gym. It wasn't a very large gym, and the bleachers were somewhat full, but Wallace had saved space on the row where they were sitting. As expected, Alicia more or less made a beeline for Wallace and Amira as soon as she spotted them in the stands. Veronica was looking forward to what sort of fireworks might happen with this being the first meeting between Amira and Alicia. Keith followed closely behind Alicia with Veronica doing her best to keep up with both of them. Alicia took the seat right next to Wallace after he awkwardly introduced her and Keith to Amira. Veronica's seating choices at that point seemed to be to sit next to her dad or next to Amira. She decided to go with the safer spot and sat down by Keith after giving Wallace and Amira a quick smile and a little wave.

"Is this seat taken?" a male voice asked before she'd even turned back toward the front of the gym again.

"No," she replied as she turned toward the voice, and then immediately wished she hadn't answered before looking. "I mean _yes_," she said quickly with a frown.

"So we're playing two truths and a lie again? I think giving opposite versions of the same statement sort of diminishes the challenge of the game though," the source of her irritation said with a chuckle as he sat down. The fact that he continued to smile at her with an amused sparkle in his bright blue eyes annoyed her even more.

"What are you even doing here?" Veronica asked with an exasperated sigh.

"I came to watch some of my kids play basketball," he replied with the same charming smile, apparently not at all deterred by Veronica's reaction to him.

"_Your_ kids?" Veronica asked in confusion. _Since when did Troy Vandegraff have middle school aged kids?_

"Yeah... I'm a teacher here," Troy replied as he gestured around them.

Veronica couldn't help a small scoff from slipping out. "Well I sure hope you're not teaching _ethics_," she replied with a judgmental tone.

Troy chuckled and shook his head as he looked down at the seat in front of him for a moment before looking back up at her with the same dazzling smile that she couldn't quite seem to make vanish. "It's nice to know we haven't progressed past acquaintances with reservations, have we?" he asked as he stared into her eyes. "I teach 6th grade social studies." He paused a moment before he continued speaking. "Wallace had mentioned that you were back in town, and I was hoping I'd bump into you at some point."

"You talk to Wallace?" Veronica asked not sure if she was more surprised or annoyed by that.

"Yeah, we play on the same city league basketball team," Troy replied as he nodded slightly.

Veronica turned to glare at Wallace for a moment. He, unfortunately, was focused on talking to Amira and not looking in the direction of his mom or Veronica, so she felt even more annoyed that her glare was wasted. She'd be sure he felt her wrath soon enough, though.

Keith must have sensed something was going on because he glanced in Veronica's direction before she turned away. He gave her a questioning look and then leaned to look past her. His face took on nearly the same annoyed look that Veronica had been sporting a few minutes before.

"Mr. Mars," Troy said from next to Veronica. "Nice to see you again."

Veronica chuckled as her dad narrowed his eyes slightly then let out a deep breath as he gave Troy a very fake smile and head nod. She felt Troy press against her side and whisper slightly to her. "Okay... he's clearly still working his way toward the acquaintance-with-reservations stage."

Veronica turned so she could look at Troy, who seemed to be trying to use her as a bit of a shield from her dad's glare. "Yeah... he's probably still at the dad-to-scorned-teenage-daughter stage," she said with a devious smirk. "And he still owns guns."

Troy looked a bit less amused but maintained a small smile on his face.

"So are you _still_ planning to sit here?" Veronica asked with a bit of disbelief.

"Best spot in the house. Totally worth it," he replied with a smug grin as he nodded back at her.

She let out a frustrated breath and shook her head at him. "Still _stupid_, or at least clueless, I see. And they let you teach children?" she asked in a disbelieving tone.

Troy chuckled and nodded in reply.

Veronica did her best to ignore Troy during the game, but he seemed to be doing his best to keep talking to her. Since he knew all of the boys on Darrel's team, he would add his own commentary about various kids as they made shots or came out on the floor. Veronica was thankful when the game was finally over.

"We're going to ZZ's pizza, right?" Wallace asked his mom and Keith before they all climbed down from the bleachers. Alicia nodded in reply. "I was thinking Amira and I would head over now and save one of the big tables for all of us." Before anyone really had a chance to object, he and Amira were headed out of the gym. Veronica chuckled to herself thinking about how he was probably now trying to avoid both her and his mother.

Veronica followed Alicia and Keith down to where the team was starting to break up. Troy, unfortunately, had followed as well and was congratulating the boys on their win. She hated to admit it, but all the boys seemed to really like him and had been excited that he'd come to see their game. She really wanted to still think of him as the untrustworthy teenage boy that he used to be, but clearly he wasn't that guy anymore. Maybe it wasn't really fair of her to judge him like that. She felt a bit hypocritical considering how she'd forgiven Logan for all his past misdeeds, but couldn't seem to do the same for Troy. Although to be fair, she had many more positive years of history with Logan to build upon as well.

"Hey, can Kyle and Devin come to ZZ's with us too?" Darrel asked looking hopefully between Keith and Alicia.

"Um… don't forget we have Veronica with us too, so there really isn't room for two of your friends," Keith quickly replied, resulting in a disappointed look from Darrel.

"I can drop Veronica off," Troy, who happened to still be standing there, offered.

Veronica couldn't bear to disappoint Darrel, who suddenly had a very hopeful look on his face again. _How bad could riding a few miles across town with Troy actually be?_ "Sure, that would be fine," Veronica said as she nodded at her dad, who looked a bit concerned about the offer.

"Okay… I'm sure Wallace could give you a ride home if Troy wouldn't mind dropping you off there," her dad replied with a slightly disapproving tone.

"Great," Troy said appearing pleased as he gestured for Veronica to lead the way out of the gym with a broad arm wave. "I'm in the teacher lot, back to the right," Troy clarified once they exited the school. Veronica nodded in understanding and let him take the lead as she followed him to his car.

At least the ride there wasn't terrible. Troy asked her how she was enjoying working at the sheriff's department and how she'd liked Stanford. He shared how he'd ended up going to San Diego State instead of Hearst and then got the teaching position at the middle school right after graduation. Given how obtrusive he seemed to be at the school, she was expecting him to invite himself to join them for pizza, but instead he said it was great to see her again and hoped that maybe they'd bump into each other at the next basketball game.

"I'll be sure to keep my guard up next time," Veronica replied with a smirk as she climbed out of the car. He only chuckled and gave her an amused smile before she closed the door and headed into the restaurant. She was glad that they had beat Keith and Alicia there so she could give Wallace a quick talking to about not warning her about Troy. She spotted Wallace and Amira as soon as she walked in and headed toward the table.

"Thanks, _buddy_," Veronica said in a terse voice as she reached them.

Wallace gave her a sheepish grin and shrugged. "Sorry. But I haven't really seen that much of you to have a chance to mention Troy. I sort of forgot he might be there tonight. Hopefully he wasn't too big of a pest."

Veronica narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head. "You still should have mentioned him playing basketball with you when you invited me to come watch your game," she said, clearly annoyed with him.

"Right… well he doesn't make it every week. So there was a chance he wouldn't have even been there. Plus… you seemed to be on decent enough terms with him when you helped him out at Hearst, so I didn't think it would be that big of a deal."

"Well it still would have been nice to have been given a heads up, _Wallace_," Veronica said as she let out a frustrated sigh. Keith and Alicia walked in at that point and it was clear that Wallace was now more worried about how the rest of the evening was going to go for him and Amira in regards to Alicia, and less so about what had happened with Veronica and Troy.

"I suppose this isn't a great time to ask you to be a bit of a buffer with my mom, is it?" Wallace asked looking helplessly at Veronica.

Veronica gave him a smug smile and shook her head. "Nope," she replied with a very loud pop on the 'P'.

Veronica remained fairly amused throughout dinner. She could easily see why Wallace had been reluctant to introduce Amira to Alicia. She wondered if Alicia's overprotective mothering streak was in part due to how upset she'd been when Wallace ran off to find Jackie when he thought she was in Paris. In a way she almost sympathized with Amira, knowing what it felt like to be on the receiving end of Alica's disapproval. Maybe if Amira had been nicer to her in the past it would be _actual_ sympathy though and not just theoretical.

When Veronica finally made it home, she couldn't help but wonder if Logan had stopped by to see Kayla after the board meeting. She'd curled up on her bed, intending to do some reading before she fell asleep, but the hearts on her toes kept catching her eye, which would shift her thoughts back to Logan. She finally fell asleep, conflicted between her desire for Logan to find happiness with someone and her desire to have him back for herself. For whatever reason, she was starting to feel more convinced than ever that she could be that person for him. She just needed to prove to him that she'd actually changed and he that could trust her not to bolt on him again.


	33. Chapter 33

_**A/N – Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews on the last chapter. This story is already almost at 600 reviews now (on FF)! This chapter is a little shorter than some of the others have been, but there's still quite a bit going on. I'm sure several of you will have strong opinions when you get to the end. I look forward to hearing from you all, so be sure to take a minute to drop me a quick note!**_

_**Thanks again to my fabulous beta, Bondopoulos, who I couldn't do this with out!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 33

Since Veronica and Norris had the later shift on Thursday, she was able to sleep in later than she had been able to the past few days. She didn't want to obsess over whether Logan may have gone to see Kayla after his board meeting, so decided she needed to focus on something else. She was starting to feel a bit pathetic with how desperately she did want Logan back, so vowed to be more patient and not worry so much about it. If it was meant to be, it would happen when the time was right. Given his current state of reservation, it may just take time for him to come around. He'd said that he was just friends with Kayla, so she really wanted to stop worrying about that.

Keith had stayed the night over at Alicia's so Backup had slept on the end of Veronica's bed with her. "Wanna go for a run boy?" Veronica asked as she sat up and scratched Backup behind the ears. He perked his head up at her and wagged his tail. Veronica climbed out of bed and found some running clothes to wear. She grabbed her cell phone and pulled up one of her favorite work-out playlists and started listening to the music as she got dressed. Backup watched her patiently from the bed, and then when she called for him he hopped down and followed her to where Keith kept his leash.

Veronica tried to focus on the music and her surroundings as she headed toward the beach. She distracted herself for a while, at least, thinking back to their awkward quasi-family dinner the night before. Alicia had been like a grand inquisitor as she grilled Amira on all sorts of topics. Veronica had enjoyed watching Amira squirm a bit, considering how unpleasantly she had sometimes treated Veronica in the past. Wallace did an admirable job of trying to keep the situation under control, but she imagined that he probably still got an earful from Amira later when they were finally alone. She couldn't help but notice that they had both been uncharacteristically quiet when Wallace had driven Veronica home after pizza. Veronica thought about mentioning that at least Alicia hadn't walked in on Amira when she was naked, but decided that probably wasn't going to go over very well. When Veronica had climbed out of the backseat, Amira had given her a fairly cold farewell before they drove off. Veronica still hadn't decided whether refusing to help Wallace at dinner was enough payback for him not telling her about Troy. A part of her still wanted to hold that against him for a while longer.

When Veronica finally reached the ocean, she found a smooth boulder to sit on so she and Backup could rest a little bit before she headed back to her dad's house. Of course there had to be guys out surfing, which didn't help her plan of finding something to do that would keep her mind off of Logan. In hindsight, she really should have headed someplace other than the beach. She glanced down at her phone to see if Logan had texted her yet today, and then was a little frustrated with herself for checking and for being disappointed that he hadn't. _That doesn't mean that anything happened last night between him and Kayla. _Since Veronica's shift didn't start until one, Logan offering to get her coffee probably wouldn't have made sense, and that had been his main reason for texting her before. Veronica still found herself hoping that maybe he had picked up some treat for her and it would be waiting for her at the station.

She rested on the rock for a while and then stood up to head back to her dad's house. Even though the surfers reminded her of Logan, it still felt good to get out for a run. Backup seemed to really enjoy it as well. She knew that her dad and Weevil took him for walks, but didn't imagine Backup got to go on long runs all that often. She chuckled to herself, imaging Weevil in running clothes instead of his normal gang-leader themed apparel. Even though she'd seen him wearing clothes that were more professional now, she always pictured him in the biker jacket and jeans when she thought about him. Similarly to how from time to time when she was in San Francisco she'd still pictured Logan with his bleached tips and puka shell necklace. There had been several occasions where she'd seen a guy walking down the sidewalk with bleached tips and her mind had always immediately jumped to Logan, even though he'd stopped doing that to his hair before college.

Once she made it back to the house, Veronica filled Backup's water bowl and put some food out for him. She grabbed a wild berry pistachio bar for herself to eat before she headed to the shower. When she was done with her shower, she thought she'd see if Logan wanted her to bring him some lunch. It didn't seem that much different than offering to pick up coffee for him anyway. She grabbed her phone and shot of a quick text, asking if he wanted her to pick up anything for lunch on her way to the station.

His reply came back a few seconds later. 'Thanks, but already had Chinese delivered. You're welcome to have some too if you want. There's plenty.'

'Eggrolls?' she texted back, expecting there to be some given he knew how much she loved those.

It took a bit longer for his next reply to come back, and she wondered if he'd had to take a call. 'No sorry. If I'd ordered, I would have gotten you some.'

At least the fact that he would have known to order some for her made her feel better, but then she stopped to wonder who had actually ordered it. _Stop being so paranoid about everything, Veronica._ She finished getting ready and headed into the station a little earlier than her shift was scheduled to start. She wanted to be able to eat some of the Chinese food while she checked to see if there'd been any new developments in Benjamin's case. The fruit bar that she'd eaten before she had taken a shower was delicious, but it hadn't been enough to tide her over for very long.

Logan gave her a warm smile as she walked into the station. She noticed that it looked like he was getting ready to leave. "Hey, you should chat with Leo about the security footage. I think he needs you to do some more work on that," Logan told her as he gestured in the direction of Leo's office.

Doug was also standing up, and walked over toward Logan. "Don't eat all the food Kayla sent over before we get back," Doug teased Veronica as he slipped his jacket on.

Veronica took a deep breath and smiled while she nodded. "Yeah, I'll be sure to leave you some." She thought she noticed a slightly hesitant look on Logan's face before he gave her a little wave and headed to the door. _Now I wish I'd brought my own lunch._

Unfortunately things at the station were fairly hectic all afternoon, which kept them all very busy. One of the security companies had sent over their video surveillance footage, but the other one was being difficult about it and required a warrant, claiming that it was company policy. Veronica and Norris were able to get a signed statement from the homeowner to take to the DA's office to try to expedite the process, but it was likely going to take them at least another day to get that footage. She had just started to look through the footage from the other residence when Logan and Doug returned from one of their calls. Logan gave her a quick smile as he took a seat in his chair and swung it back around toward her. She glanced up at and saw that he had an inquisitive smile on his face and she wondered what he was about to say.

Of course at that moment, Veronica heard a voice that she really hadn't wanted to hear that day, or perhaps ever again, say her name over at the reception counter. Unfortunately, it was followed by the receptionist telling said unwanted person where he could find her. Logan must have noticed the grimace on her face, because he gave her an amused look. She steadied herself and turned away from her screen and Logan, toward the source of her continued irritation. _I should have known I wouldn't be able to avoid him after how persistent he was yesterday._

"Hey Logan. Nice to see you," Troy said as he reached his hand out to shake Logan's.

"Yeah," Logan replied a bit hesitantly, though obviously curious. "What brings you by?"

Troy turned to smile at Veronica before he answered Logan's question. "Just being a nice guy and returning the sunglasses that Veronica left in my car last night." He pulled her sunglass case out of his pocket to hand to her. For a second Veronica saw what looked to be a troubled expression cross Logan's face, but it was gone so quickly she wasn't sure that it had been there at all.

Veronica narrowed her eyes at Troy as she reached out to take the case. "Or you _stole_ them out of my bag," she replied accusatorily.

Troy gave her a faux offended look and scoffed. "Would I really be _stupid_ enough to steal from a _deputy_?" he asked as he smirked at her.

"I don't think you want me to answer that," Veronica said as she put the case down on her desk and shook her head at him. She caught a smirk on Logan's face at that comment at least.

"Fair enough," Troy replied with his charming smile back in place. "So… getting to visit this _fine_ establishment again got me thinking…"

Veronica let out an exasperated sigh. "Haven't you learned? You and _thinking_ never works out… maybe you shouldn't even try."

Troy laughed and shook his head slightly, but continued anyway. "I was thinking how I never got a chance to properly thank you for helping to prove I wasn't the rapist at Hearst. I'm so grateful that you believed me."

_Fuck_. Veronica had never told Logan about that, and, out of all their past issues, the Hearst rape case was something she had really hoped to avoid. Or to at least avoid it until things between them were in a much healthier place. She glanced quickly at Logan and saw that the amused smile that had been there moments before had been replaced by a very grim and borderline angry expression now.

"How about you let me take you to dinner? Say… Saturday night?" Troy continued, clearly unaware that what he'd said had bothered Logan. Troy was still smiling at Veronica while he waited for her reply. She couldn't help the momentary sense of déjà vu from the expression on Troy's face as she thought back to when he'd first asked her out in high school.

Veronica quickly answered without taking another second to think about it. "No. You returned my glasses… I did a little detective work… let's consider us even."

Troy must have been able to notice the change in the mild teasing from earlier to her slightly harsher tone now. He gave her a slightly puzzled look and nodded slowly. "Okay… well if you change your mind… you can give me a call." He glanced at Logan and must have also noticed his change in demeanor. "I'd better let you two get back to work. See ya," he said with a quick wave before he turned and headed out of the station.

Veronica turned and gave Logan a concerned look while she bit nervously on her lower lip. He took a deep breath and shook his head slightly before he stood up and walked briskly toward the break room. She took a long steadying breath as well and then stood up to follow him. She didn't want to let this be something that would fester between the two of them and hoped to diffuse it quickly.

Logan was leaning against the counter in the break room, staring down at his feet as she walked in and quietly closed the door behind her.

"When was Vandegraff even at Hearst, Veronica?" Logan asked angrily as soon as the door clicked shut.

"I ran into him at an orientation for high school seniors that I went to with Wallace," she explained, trying to keep her tone neutral.

She could see Logan's jaw clench and he took another deep breath. "So you were involved with those cases _before_ we even went to Hearst… and you never thought to mention it to me?"

"Logan… it wasn't exactly like that… I just… I just found enough proof to exonerate Troy from the charges against him." She was starting to feel a bit defensive, and worried about how the rest of the conversation might go.

She watched Logan continue to clench his jaw a little tighter before he'd relax it some and then clench it tighter again. "Nice to know you were there to bail out a guy who screwed you over, considering all the times you didn't believe in me," He spat out bitterly. Logan of course knew about Troy trying to steal the steroids and leaving Veronica in the dust on his way to his other girlfriend.

"That's not really fair, Logan…" she said trying not to lose her temper with him, since she could understand where his hurt feelings were coming from. She wasn't sure that pointing out all the times she had bailed him out despite the times he'd screwed her over was going to help either though. She wasn't surprised that at this moment he was thinking about the bad examples though.

He took another deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. He opened them as he slowly exhaled. "You're right… I'm sorry." He paused before he spoke again. "We said we weren't going to dwell on past mistakes. Even if some of them were huge fucking ones... like me defending the actual asshole rapist."

"You didn't know, Logan," she quickly replied reassuringly. "I thought the evidence proved he was innocent too. That's not your fault."

He nodded slowly as he clenched his jaw again. _Obviously you don't really believe that, even if you are pretending to agree with me._ She walked closer to him and then reached up and put both hands on his cheeks. She wished she could somehow make that guilt he carried around inside of him go away forever. He'd been avoiding her gaze, but looked into her eyes as her hands touched his face.

"That was the past, Logan. The _past_. You put assholes like that away now. You're good at what you do. Don't let what happened all those years ago haunt you still. We're a good team now. You and me together... I realize that now that we're actually working together… we are so much better than we were back then. Please don't let what Troy said damage that." There was no doubt or hesitation in her voice as she spoke. She really did believe every word she was saying. She also couldn't bear to have something she neglected to tell him from all those years ago come back to tear them apart. Not with how hard she was working to show him things were different now.

Logan took a deep breath and nodded slowly again, but this time she could tell that he did believe her. She slowly caressed his cheek with one of her thumbs. She was staring intently into his eyes and really wanted nothing more than to tip up on her toes and kiss him, but they were supposed to just be friends now. Not to mention that they were at work, and having someone walk in on that wouldn't be good at all. She swallowed hard and then pulled her hands away, but kept looking at him, hoping that all the confidence she had in him was evident. A second later, their private moment was interrupted by the door to the break room opening.

"Hey, there you are. We've got another call to take," Doug said as he looked in at them. A slightly concerned expression formed on his face as he must have more thoroughly assessed the situation that he'd just interrupted.

"Be right there," Logan said with a terse tone. Doug nodded and walked away.

Logan looked back at Veronica again. His voice was softer as he spoke to her. "Thanks… for believing in me now."

She gave him a more affectionate smile and nodded. "You deserved it all those years ago too. I'm so sorry I didn't believe in you more often then."

Logan took a quick breath. "Like you said… that's in the past. But it means a lot to me that you feel that way now." The expression on his face clearly showed that he was touched by her words and maybe, she hoped, starting to really believe things might be different now.

"Good," she said tenderly. He reached out and squeezed her arm gently before he turned and went in the same direction that Doug had headed.

After Logan left, Veronica went back to watching the security footage. She thought that she could see a small section of the yacht in the shot, but the camera wasn't at the right angle to get a complete view, let alone see people coming and going from the dock. She really hoped the footage from the other property might provide her with something more substantial. There was footage from the front of their property also and she was watching that to see if she could pick up arrivals or departures from the Donaldson estate. She was still in the middle of that task when Logan and Doug returned. She glanced at the time on her PC and noticed that their shift was just about over.

Logan stopped by her desk and asked if she'd had any luck with the security footage yet. She shook her head in reply. He walked toward his desk and pulled his chair over so he could sit in front of her desk. She could tell that his demeanor seemed slightly off, and she wondered if he was still upset over the revelation about Troy and Hearst from earlier. Her sunglass case was still sitting on her desk and he picked it up, staring at it instead of her. "So you were with Troy last night?" he asked as he set the case back down and nervously glanced between her and the case. She could tell that he was trying really hard not to act jealous or make a big deal about it, but it obviously must have started bothering him after he'd left. She certainly knew how uncertainty about things could eat at you.

She casually nodded in reply. "Yeah… I guess he's a teacher at Darrel's middle school. He was at the game last night too."

"Right… I'd forgotten that he'd mentioned he was a teacher the last time I bumped into him," He paused and looked a little less bothered, glancing at her for a longer period of time before he'd look back at the sunglass case. "So how did your glasses end up in his car?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Darrel wanted to take a couple of his friends to pizza and there wasn't space in my dad's car for all of us, so Troy offered to drop me off at the restaurant," Veronica explained. She tried to remain very matter-of-fact, and to not get defensive at all.

"He didn't stay for pizza?" Logan asked next, definitely making more eye contact than he had when he first sat down.

Veronica shook her head. "Nope, just played taxi driver for me. I guess my glasses must have fallen out of my purse, or he really did steal them."

Logan gave her a small smile finally. "I could see someone committing petty larceny as an excuse to see you again."

Veronica laughed and shook her head at him. She hadn't expected the joke, and it made her feel better.

"You're still stopping by the bowling alley after your shift, right?" Logan asked next with a hopeful look on his face. She was glad to see that the Troy topic seemed to be closed now and that it hadn't end up causing another argument.

"Yeah, I'll stop by. Gotta make sure you're not getting your butt kicked by the firemen," Veronica replied with a teasing smirk.

"Never," Logan said as he gave her a little wink and then scooted his chair back to his desk so that he could pack his things up to go. He gave her a little wave and said goodbye before he headed back out to his car.

Veronica didn't find anything useful in the rest of the security footage that they'd been able to obtain from the first security company. Bridget must have driven a different direction on her way to the Donaldson estate because Veronica didn't see her on the video at all. Veronica and Norris went out on a couple of calls after the earlier shifts had left, but it was a fairly quiet Thursday evening overall, which was surprising given how busy they'd been earlier in the day.

As they were walking out of the station together after their shift, Veronica asked Norris if he was planning on stopping by the bowling alley. He told her he was just going to head over to Mac's to watch a movie instead. Veronica had hoped that Norris would be there to provide an extra buffer with Kayla, but since she'd told Logan she'd stop by, she was going to regardless of whether or not Norris did. She couldn't blame Norris for opting for some private time with Mac instead. If it were up to her, she would have chosen private time with Logan over bowling with Kayla, even if it was just hanging out in his media room watching a movie. She smiled as she unlocked her car, thinking about Logan painting her toenails.

When she walked into the bowling alley, Veronica spotted some of the other deputies down at their usual spot. From her position, she couldn't quite tell if Logan and Kayla were there, though. She decided to go and grab a beer before she joined the rest of the group, so she headed toward the small bar in the far corner of the building. She was just about to walk through the entryway when she spotted Logan and Kayla at the bar. She quickly debated about whether or not she should just go back out to the rest of the group and get a drink later instead of interrupting them. She turned toward the alley for a second before turning back toward the bar while she tried to decide what to do. She sucked in a sharp breath as she turned just in time to see them kissing.

Her immediate reaction was to flee. Veronica quickly turned around and headed back to the entrance. Theoretical scenarios were so much easier to deal with than the cold hard reality she'd just witnessed. She desperately hoped that no one bowling had spotted her as she walked as quickly as she could toward the entrance. Unfortunately, before she could reach the salvation of the entrance's double-doors, she ran right into Brandon as he came out of the restroom.

"Hey, you made it," he said with a broad grin. "Carmen will be thrilled to see you."

"Oh… I," she pulled her phone out of her pocket instinctively. Coming up with excuses was nothing new for her. She hoped Brandon couldn't tell how anxious she actually was, though. "I got a text from my dad and need to get something for him at his office that he really needs for a case he's working, so I've got to bolt."

"Oh, okay. Well it was good to see you," Brandon replied with a slightly suspicious look.

"Yeah. See you later," she said quickly as she started moving briskly back toward the front doors again.

She held herself together until she got in the car, but once she got in and shut the car door behind her, she felt tears stinging at her eyes. She really did want Logan to be happy, even if it wasn't with her, but some part of her had held on to the hope that, despite everything, it would still be her that he wanted. Even though she had tried to tell herself that it was okay if Logan found someone else, seeing him with Kayla hurt so much more than she had expected. She knew that the pain was because she had let herself come to think that she could still convince him that they would work together now. She rested her head on the steering wheel for a minute and tried to get control over her emotions before she drove home. She didn't want to stay there too long though because she was afraid someone she knew might come out. _Please don't let Logan and Kayla come out to go someplace more private._

When she felt like she had regained her composure enough to drive, she lifted her head back up from the steering wheel. She noticed her bag had tipped over on the seat when she tossed it in. As she reached over to put her wallet back inside, she noticed that her sunglass case had fallen on the seat too. When she went to pick it up, she noticed the flap had opened and she could see a piece of paper in with her glasses. Veronica wiped away her remaining tears as she reached for the paper and unfolded it.

'_I thought I'd leave my number stealthily here, because for some reason, I doubt I'll be able to con you into letting me add it to your phone again. It really was great seeing you again, Veronica. Give me a call if you ever want to talk… or need investment advice… or whatever._' The letter was signed by Troy along with his number.

Veronica let her head fall to the back of her seat as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She spent a few quiet moments just staring up at the ceiling. _Is this actually some sign from the universe that I should give Troy a chance again? Maybe going out to dinner with him would make me feel better about Logan and Kayla. What's good for the goose…_ She grabbed her phone and punched in Troy's number, pausing before she pressed send. She lifted her thumb up to her lips and bit nervously on her nail for a minute, and then took a quick breath and finally hit send.

"Hello?" Troy's voice came groggily through the phone.

"Were you sleeping?" she asked with disbelief apparent in her tone. "It's only 9:30."

"Hey, it is a school night," he replied, actually sounding a little embarrassed.

She couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out, partly due to the sheer ridiculousness of her calling him in addition to him being asleep.

"Honestly? I fell asleep grading papers. The cultural differences between Mesopotamia and Rome really wasn't all that exciting, I guess," Troy replied, sounding chagrined. "Need another lift? I'm thinking of applying for a taxi permit so I can make some extra cash in my off-hours. Maybe you could give me a good review on Yelp."

Veronica laughed softly and shook her head. It took her a moment to realize that he, of course, couldn't actually see her through the phone. She took a deep breath before she forged ahead. "No, I… I changed my mind… I'll go to dinner with you on Saturday. If the offer still stands, that is."

"Of course it does, Veronica," Troy replied in a tone that sounded both amazed and thankful at the same time.

"Great. I should be off work by six, if something after that will work for you."

"Perfect. I hear O'Neal's still has those mini jukeboxes on the tables. Maybe I'll actually be able to get ours to change the music this time… if that works for you."

She chuckled softly at the reference. "Sure… seven at O'Neal's then?" She actually felt a little better about having her own car there in case she decided half way through their date that this was a terrible idea after all.

"Sounds great," he said in reply before they both said goodnight.

She stared at her phone for a few seconds after she ended the call, then took a deep breath and started the car. _Friends should want each other to be happy. And waiting around for something that's never going to happen isn't going to make either of us happy. Both of us moving on with other people is probably for the best, even if deep down it still really hurts._

_**A/N – Updated Note – Since I've gotten a significant number of GUEST reviews commenting about being frustrated with this story, I did want to add a reminder that something significant is happening in the next chapter. Hopefully you'll all stick around for one more chapter before you quit reading, given how much you've already invested in it. If not, then I'm sorry that it wasn't worth having a little patience for. Thanks!**_


	34. Chapter 34

_**A/N – In absolute gratitude for all the amazing reviews last chapter, I decided to post this one earlier than I originally planned. I was blown away that the last chapter received 50 reviews on FF in addition to quite a few on AO3. I've never had so many on one chapter ever before, so THANK YOU! The next update will not be as quick, but shouldn't be too long of a wait hopefully. **_

_**I did figure out how to handle Guest reviews differently here on FF, so those may not show up immediately after you post since I have to release them. But now I can put a reply with them, so even if you don't have an account, I can still answer questions or provide some clarifying comments. So if you leave a guest comment, you can check back later to see if I answered any questions you had. **_

_**Thanks again to my fabulous beta, Bondopoulos, who I couldn't do this with out! She's been gone this week, so this chapter didn't get as much final touches as normal, so if there are any issues, they are all my fault!**_

_**I also left a bunch of notes at the end of this chapter.**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 34

Veronica stared down at her hands as she tried to focus on something other than the pain in her arm and the frantic voices of the paramedics. Of course all she saw on her hands was blood which really didn't help. She knew some of it was hers and some of it was his. She could feel wet tears rolling down her cheeks, but couldn't seem to make them stop. Some of the warm wet drops fell onto her hands, temporarily exposing her pale skin under the blood, but soon, even where the tears had fallen, the blood would blend back in and cover her pale skin again.

She was surprised she found herself longing for the screams of agony which had stopped before the paramedics had arrived. At least then she knew he was still alive. Although she could hear the faint heart beat monitor now, so that was something at least, but she could tell from the frantic tones of the paramedics that things were not looking good. The ambulance finally arrived at the hospital and she felt herself bump into the wall slightly as they came to a sudden stop.

"Please stay here until someone comes out for you," the paramedic quickly instructed her as he started to fly out of the back of the ambulance with the equipment and gurney. There were more voices and arms helping to pull the stretcher out and so much chaos that she couldn't do anything but sit there and continue to softly sob. She realized she was likely in shock, but that realization didn't really help her any. The paramedics were trying to save someone who had been critically injured, and her condition was much better off than his.

She closed her eyes and her mind immediately jumped back to thinking about how the day had started. Thinking about earlier before things had gone to hell seemed to start to calm her down at least. Recalling the earlier part of her day might give her something else to do instead of being stuck in the moments that had just happened. Even though she had been dreading how the day might go, that was nothing compared to the nightmare it had turned into.

Veronica's shift had started two hours before Logan's and offering to get coffee that much earlier, particularly after what she'd witnessed at the bowling alley with Kayla the night before, didn't really feel right. Not to mention that it would have been cold by the time he arrived anyway. She was still having a tough time reconciling her feelings for what was probably best for him along with her own desires. She still wanted to be a supportive friend though, so had vowed to herself to do her best not to let the latest development impact how she acted around him. She had been surprised when Logan actually called her about an hour after she'd started working.

"Hey… It's me," he'd said sounding hesitant and slightly nervous. She'd said a quick 'hi' back to him before he continued on. "I um… I've got to go to LA today for that case I was working on before… but um…" he paused and she heard him take a deep breath. "I really want to talk to you about something…important… and I don't want to do it over the phone… could I stop by your place when I get back tonight? It shouldn't be too late."

She let out a soft sigh before she answered. At least he wasn't going to avoid her and seemed to want to get things out in the open. She could easily guess that he wanted to tell her that he had decided to date Kayla and gave him credit for wanting to tell her in person, sooner rather than later. "Sure," she answered, trying not to sound completely devastated.

After the call from Logan, Veronica started dreading actually having that conversation, though, which seemed to make the day go by even more painfully slow. She tried to just focus on work and not think much about Logan or what he wanted to discuss with her. She at least had an amusing call from Troy around lunch time, which surprisingly did cheer her up some.

After she'd answered her phone and said hello, Troy had let out what sounded like a combination of a relieved sigh and a chuckle. "Oh good… I wanted to make sure you really had called me last night and that I hadn't just dreamt it and had some other random number on my phone," he admitted sounding a bit sheepish.

"Sorry, who is this?" she asked, unable to not mess with him.

He laughed before he replied. "Troy… you know… the guy who stole your sunglasses just to have an excuse to see you again."

"I knew you stole them!" she replied with an accusatory laugh.

Troy chuckled before he spoke again. "I'm just kidding… I really did find them on the floor by the passenger seat when I came out of work yesterday. But you can't pretend you don't know who you're talking to now either, or pretend you're not Veronica Mars."

She chuckled softly before she continued. "I guess I'll take your word that you didn't steal them, but I'm going to keep a close eye on you and my personal belongings at dinner," she warned.

"I look forward to it. And if you feel the need for any extra interrogation…"

"I'll see about borrowing a portable polygraph," she replied thoughtfully.

He laughed again before he replied. "And I'd gladly let you… I really have nothing to hide now, Veronica. Wait… does smuggling bootleg copies of old 70's movies across the border count against me?"

"You're quite the busy beaver aren't you… teaching… taxi services… bootleg movie smuggler," Veronica replied with an amused tone. "I'm wondering if you'll actually even have time to see me."

"Did I mention I've given up the taxi and smuggler jobs… as of this minute?" he quickly replied without missing a beat. She laughed softly into the phone. "Sorry… I should let you go and my next class is going to be starting in a few minutes too. I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night."

"Yeah, I should go too. See you tomorrow," she said before they ended the call. Talking to Troy had at least made her feel slightly less crappy about what she was expecting to hear from Logan later that night.

Given it was Friday, they were very busy at the station which was only exacerbated by being a person short with Logan being gone. They still hadn't gotten the other security footage yet, which was probably fine since Veronica and Norris had spent more time out of the station on calls than actually being there. It was finally getting close to the end of their shift when a call came in for a possible robbery at a shop in the worst part of the 02 zip code area. Leo told them to take Doug along with them and to call for backup if they needed it. He said that there was another unit not far from the address that could join them if necessary.

When they arrived at the address, they could easily see that the front of the shop was securely locked with bars covering the door and the windows. They made their way toward the back through a narrow alley that ran along the south side of the shop. And that's when everything went to hell. Veronica remembered the first suspect bolting out of the building and Norris tackling him and pinning him down on the ground. The rest was more or less a blur now, or more like random stills from some terrible movie.

Before they'd had a chance to call for backup or ascertain if there were more suspects in the building, gunshots rang out. Veronica had felt the pain shoot through her left arm as she quickly pulled up her own gun and aimed it in the direction the sound had come from. They'd put on bulletproof vests on the way to the location, but that hadn't been enough. She had no idea how the bullet had made its way under Doug's vest, likely entering at an angle under his arm and into his chest as he'd drawn his weapon as well. She'd heard his agonizing shout of pain as he'd fallen and then she fired into the doorway where the assailant stood with a weapon. The suspect had turned it back toward her as she squeezed the trigger, hitting him cleanly in the chest. If he'd fired off another round, it didn't seem to hit any of them and then his body lay motionless on the ground.

She remembered hearing Norris' voice calling for an ambulance on his radio and saying two officers had been shot. Doug was still conscious then and Norris was moving toward both of them as Veronica tried to get Doug's vest off to put pressure on the wound. She could still picture the blood sputtering out of his mouth as he continued to cry out in pain. Norris must have verified that there weren't other suspects in the building, or perhaps it was the backup team that had been en-route just in case they were needed. All she could remember now were the horrible noises coming from Doug, rather than anyone else shooting at them.

The next cohesive memory that she had was Norris helping to wrap her arm while the paramedics were working on Doug as quickly as they could to get him to the ER. Norris loaded her into the ambulance as well since he thought she needed to be checked.

Veronica quickly realized working all the way up to the incident was a bad idea and felt her breath start to get ragged again. Fortunately at that point, a triage nurse climbed into the ambulance and started talking to Veronica. She was asking her things such as her name as she checked her pulse and pupils. The questions at least distracted Veronica enough to bring her back to the present moment and out of the memory of the shooting. The nurse asked Veronica if she could climb out of the ambulance on her own and then helped her into a wheel chair to push her into an examination room in the ER.

Norris had cut away at her shirt before he'd bandaged her arm, but there had been so much bleeding, from her wound as well as Doug's, that blood had started to soak the rest of her shirt as well. The nurse helped her change out of her clothes and had her put on a gown to wait for a doctor who could look at her arm and see if she needed stitches or other medical attention. She warned Veronica that it might be a little while since they had several arrivals all at the same time.

Veronica wasn't sure how long she sat in the room, but her tears had started falling again. She had no idea if Doug was still alive or not, and hoped someone would come and tell her if he wasn't. Eventually a doctor did come in and removed the bandage that Norris had put on her arm. He apologized for making her wait as he explained that they'd had several critical cases arrive almost all at once and they were scrambling to get to everyone. He told her that the bullet hadn't hit any bones in her arm, although it had sliced deep enough for her to need stitches. The doctor also wanted to set her up with an IV for a little while since she'd lost a fair amount of blood and they were concerned about how low her blood pressure was.

She closed her eyes and leaned back on the small inclined bed when she was finally alone again. She knew losing coworkers was part of the job, but it still didn't make it any easier. She'd been fortunate during her year in San Francisco that they hadn't lost anyone on her team, but she'd known some other cops there who had. She'd been alone for less than two minutes when the door to her small room opened again.

She opened her eyes as she sat up slightly to see a very distraught Logan rushing toward her. Before she could even say a word his lips were pressed against hers and he was kissing her like his life depended on it. She felt his hands trembling on the sides of her cheeks as they gently rested there. For a minute she questioned whether it was even real. Whether she was just dreaming, or hallucinating. She melted into the kiss, but then when she started to move her left arm, the pain reminded her of her injury and she realized that she wasn't dreaming. They were both breathing hard by the time Logan finally stopped kissing her.

"I was so fucking scared, Veronica," Logan said in a low trembling voice as he rested his forehead against hers.

"I'm okay," she replied weakly as she tried to catch her breath. She felt his face move and his lips brushed against hers again gently at first, his nose slightly nudging into hers, before they were kissing again. She turned her head so that it was easier for him to deepen the kiss. His fingers pressed a little firmer against her cheeks and she could feel that he wasn't shaking as badly as when he'd first touched her. She needed him closer and reached up to grab his shirt with her uninjured arm, pulling on the fabric for a moment before snaking her hand up his chest, to the back of his head. She pulled him even closer as she instinctively arched up to reach his mouth better. She just wanted to let the sensation of kissing him wash everything else away. And at first it worked. All she could think about was Logan lips and his tongue and how good it felt to have him kissing her like she was the only thing that mattered to him in the whole entire world. But then the reality of their situation hit her. "Wait… what about Kayla…" she asked a bit breathlessly as she pulled slightly away from him.

"What?" he asked as he moved his head a little farther from her so he could look into her eyes as well. He appeared to be confused, but she couldn't understand why.

"I saw you two… you were _kissing_ her last night." Veronica explained with a bit of terseness in her tone.

He let out a deep sigh and shook his head slightly. "For the record… she kissed me…" He paused and looked at her with even more intensity than before. "And I told her that I was sorry… but I was madly in love with someone else… and just being the hugest fucking idiot by pretending I wasn't."

Veronica's face scrunched up in confusion. "But… you wanted to talk to me…"

"Yeah… about how I really felt." He shook his head slightly again and gave her a small somber smile. "I realized when Kayla kissed me that I didn't want anyone else… _ever_… and that I'd rather take a leap of faith and risk loving you again than go through life regretting that I hadn't. I _had_ planned on using actual words though… not what just happened… but then…" He paused and took a deep shaky breath. "Then I heard on the police scanner that there had been a shooting as I was on my way back… and I called the station… but they didn't know which of you had been critically injured. I only knew that two officers were shot and that Norris had called for an ambulance." He closed his eyes for a minute and she reached up with her right hand and gently stroked his cheek. "God Veronica, I was so worried I'd lost you forever and never had the chance to tell you how I really felt…"

She let out a soft bitter laugh. "If you think I didn't know how you really felt, then you're an even bigger idiot."

He opened his eyes again and she could tell that they were moist from tears. He had tried to smile at her, but she could easily see that he hadn't been able to let the fear of almost losing her go yet.

"I'm okay, Logan," she said reassuringly. He nodded slowly and rested his forehead on hers again as he let out a shaky breath. He moved his hands from her face to rest gently on her shoulders. His thumbs caressed her gently across her clavicles. She swallowed hard before she asked her next question. "Do you know how Doug is… is he…" She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.

"They um… Norris was out there… he said Doug was still in surgery. The bullet did a lot of damage, but didn't get to his heart at least. But it's going to be a while before they know anything for certain."

Veronica nodded and felt tears sting at her eyes again. Logan moved so he could bury his head against her shoulder and he wrapped his arms carefully around her waist. She put her uninjured arm around his shoulders and held him as tightly as she could. She buried her face against his neck, trying to think about him and not the nightmare she'd just been through. They stayed like that for a little while before Logan took a deep breath and leaned back up to look at her.

"What can I do to help?" he asked as he reached up and brushed some hair off of her face. "Do you need me to call your dad… or get you some clothes? Are you in a lot of pain?"

She gave him a soft smile, realizing how different he really was now. Maybe it was being responsible for Heather, or just growing up, but he was definitely more mature and thinking about more than just them and the moment.

"It hurts… but they gave me some pretty good pain meds," she said as she gave him a tender smile. "My dad… um… he was heading to New Mexico tonight for a case… he's probably still on the plane actually."

"Is there anything else I can do to help? Do you want me to call anyone else for you?" he asked as his fingers moved from brushing hair off of her forehead to resting on the side of her head. His thumb gently stroked her cheek as he continued to watch her with a troubled gaze.

"Kiss me again…" she said softly as she looked longingly into his eyes. It seemed like she'd been waiting so long for this to finally happen and then she'd been the one to abruptly stop because she'd misread the situation, yet again. Of course, never in her wildest dreams would she have expected for them to come back together in this setting and under these circumstances. _Lives ruined… blood shed…_

His lips quirked up slightly on one side as he nodded and then leaned toward her again. His nose gently brushed against hers before their mouths reunited again. He started off more tenderly than when he'd first flown into the room. She could imagine that when he first reached her, he was probably completely frantic from not knowing whether she might be the one who was critically injured. She'd been through enough adrenaline fueled moments in her life to know how that felt. Now that he knew she really was okay, he seemed to be more in control of himself. The hand that had been on the side of her head, slowly shifted down to rest near the juncture of her shoulder as his fingers slowly caressed her neck. His other hand landed on her hip, the warmth of his palm easy to feel through the light fabric covering her.

Maybe it was her own realization of how close she might have been to being in mortal danger that suddenly made her want more and she deepened the kiss, moving her hand up to pull him even closer to her. She shifted on the bed so she could turn more toward him and then felt the cold air hit her back, reminding her she was in a hospital gown in the ER. She slowed down the kiss as she tried to catch her breath again. The reality of the situation slowly coming back as the euphoric haze she'd felt when kissing him started to fade away.

"We should…" Logan started to mumble against her lips. She nodded slowly as she took a deep breath. She wasn't sure what he was going to say, but having someone walk in on them like this probably wasn't wise. They still had things to figure out and until they did, she didn't want it to cause issues for either of them in regards to their jobs. They both pulled away slightly, but he still remained near her side.

"Actually if you could get some clothes for me that would be great," Veronica said as she ran her hand gently across his cheek. Even as she asked it, she still didn't really want him to leave her there alone. But she also wanted to be able to be discharged as soon as possible and preferred to not be wearing a hospital gown when she was. He nodded and gave her a grim smile. From his expression it was easy for her to imagine that he didn't really want to leave her either. "I've got a bag with clothes in my locker at the station if you could get it for me," she started to explain.

"Of course," he replied as he continued to watch her intently, remnants of his earlier fear still echoing in his eyes.

"Thank you," she replied with a small smile. "Please don't be gone long," she said softly. He nodded and took a deep breath and then leaned in to kiss her demurely for a moment.

"I promise I won't," he said as he pulled away from her lips. "Will you let me take you home when they discharge you?"

She nodded in reply, not exactly sure whose home he meant, but not really caring at that point either. She knew she really didn't want to be alone and hoped that whichever house they ended up at that he'd be there with her. "I left my phone in the squad car… can you have Norris get that for me so I can send my dad a message?"

"Yeah, I can do that on my way out," he said softly as he leaned in to kiss her one more time chastely on the lips. "I'll see you in a little while." She nodded again and he finally moved away from the bed and headed to the door.

About five minutes after Logan left, there was a soft knock on the door and then Norris opened it and looked in at her. She'd been trying to keep her thoughts on Logan and what had just happened with him, and not think about the anything else. Given she was elated that things finally seemed to be going in the direction she'd hoped for all along with him it made it easy to focus on Logan even after he'd left. She was so relieved that he was finally willing to admit that he still loved her and, even though there were issues they still needed to work through, she felt that the biggest obstacle had been removed. Her temporary sense of euphoria was shattered though as Norris started to walk into the room.

"Hey," she said softly before feeling the tears start to well up again. Seeing the look of distress on his face brought back all the memories from earlier that she'd tried to bury when Logan was there. Norris walked over to the bed and put his arm carefully around her shoulder, staying on her uninjured side. She took a shaky breath before she continued. "Thanks for… you know… taking care of me."

"Of course… you're my partner… that's what we do," he said softly as he leaned his head against hers. "You okay?" he asked hesitantly. She imagined he could probably tell that she wasn't, but he may not have known what else to say.

"I guess…" she answered weakly. She really didn't want to completely break down in front of Norris, and was doing her best to keep some small amount of composure. "Any word on…" she trailed off as she closed her eyes to fight back more tears again.

She felt Norris swallow hard before he answered. "He's still in surgery… they um… it might take a while before they know if he…" He stopped and she could feel him shake his head slightly. He took a deep breath and then continued. "Leo should be here any minute… I'm sure he'll want to check in on you when he gets here. I'll give him a thorough update, but you'll have to make a statement when you're feeling ready to." He pulled her phone out of his jacket pocket. "Logan asked me to bring this in for you."

She noticed for the first time that he'd put his regular jacket back on and wondered how much of the shirt he had on under it was covered with their blood. She knew dwelling on that wasn't going to help anything though given her increasingly tenuous condition. "Thanks," she said softly as she took the phone with a very shaky hand.

"Do you want me to stay?" Norris asked as he took a step away and looked at her with a concerned expression. "At least until Logan gets back?"

"I'm okay… you should go back out in case there's any news on Doug," she said with a grim expression.

"Okay," he reached out and squeezed the shoulder on her uninjured side gently. "If you need to talk… about anything… I'm here for you, okay?"

She gave him a weak smile and nodded.

After Norris left, she took a deep breath and then sent a text off to her dad so he'd see it when he landed. She let him know that there had been an incident and that she was fine, with just a couple of stitches. She also told him that she planned to have her phone off so she could get some rest, so she'd talk with him in the morning. She left off the part about Doug, not really wanting to type that out in a text message.

Leo walked into the room a short while after she finished sending off the text to her dad. "How are you doing, Veronica?" he asked in the soft low mumble that she hadn't really heard him use much around the station. As Sheriff he seemed to exude so much more confidence than the deputy she'd once dated, but after what had just happened and how fragile she felt, she welcomed the softer side of him again.

"Physically… it hurts a lot… emotionally…" she felt the tears well up again and she shook her head. She hadn't said anything yet to anyone about killing the suspect, although she had heard one of the other deputies who arrived right after the shooting say he was dead, so she knew she had. The thought of that, combined with Doug fighting for his life on an operating table, was causing her to be right on the verge of completely unraveling. The only thing really holding her together at that point was knowing that Logan was coming back for her.

"You don't have to talk about it right now, if you're not ready… okay?" He said softly with a gentle look on his face. "You can wait until you feel up to that. I talked to Norris and Jenkins and got a thorough report from them, but will need to corroborate with your statement too." She nodded slowly in reply. "You did a good job though Veronica… you probably saved yourself and Norris from being shot next. Please don't second guess taking that shot, okay?"

Veronica took a steadying breath and nodded. She knew the assailant had turned the gun back on her right as she fired. It was pure instinct to protect herself and she was glad all the training she'd been through in San Francisco had come through for her. It still didn't make her feel much better about taking someone's life though.

"Norris said Logan went to get some clothes for you. Is your dad coming too?"

Veronica shook her head. "No. Dad's in New Mexico… I just sent him a text… but not… just that I had to get some stitches and that there was an incident… could you maybe…"

Leo nodded in understanding. "Yeah… I'll send him a text and have him call me when he lands.

"Thank you," she said softly. She was thankful that Leo seemed to understand exactly what she was trying to say without actually having to say it.

"Do you want him to catch the next flight back?" Leo asked next.

Veronica shook her head. "No… I'll be okay. He should finish his case."

"I don't think you should be all alone tonight though," Leo continued with concern.

"Logan said he'd take me home when I'm ready to go," Veronica explained. "I'm sure he'll be willing to stay with me."

"I'm sure he will," Leo replied softly. She couldn't quite read him well enough to tell whether he thought that was actually a problem or not, but she wasn't going to worry about it with everything else going on. "And of course don't worry about your shift tomorrow. I'll get someone else to cover it and then we'll figure out how long you may need to be out for. You'll need to get a medical approval to return to active duty of course."

Veronica nodded, knowing it would need to be physical and mental evaluations that she'd have to go through.

"I talked with the doctor that treated you and he said you should be able to go home soon at least."

"I thought we'd stay until Doug is out of surgery…" Veronica started to explain before Leo interrupted her.

"You've been through a lot, Veronica. It's probably better if you go and try to get some rest. I can call Logan when there's any update on Doug's condition," Leo told her with a concerned expression.

"But, I'm sure Logan will want to stay," she started to protest again.

"I'm sure he'll agree it's better for you not to be worrying here though. I'll call him as soon as we know anything, Veronica," Leo replied firmly.

She knew he was probably right, and that she might do better somewhere other than the hospital. She could also tell that she probably wasn't going to win this argument with him. "Okay... Thanks Leo," she said with a soft sigh.

"I was going to head back out to wait with Norris. Are you okay in here alone until Logan gets back? I can stay if you'd like."

Veronica shook her head in reply. "No, I'll be fine. You should go back out in case there's an update on Doug."

As Leo headed back out the door, Veronica closed her eyes and leaned back against the bed again. She was feeling a little light headed and figured it was probably due to the pain meds kicking in. She was only alone for a few minutes before the door opened again and a nurse came in to check on her. The nurse told her that they could take her off the IV and that if she was feeling okay and her vitals looked good that she'd start working on getting her out of there. Veronica gave her a grateful smile and nodded. She really didn't want to spend anymore time there than she already had.

By the time Logan made it back with the clothes, the nurse was done with Veronica and said she could change and leave. Her arm was aching quite a bit, but the pain medication was making it more of a dull ache than the intense burning pain she'd been in when she arrived.

"Hey," Logan said softly as he walked toward her and sat the duffle bag he was carrying on the end of the bed. He seemed a bit more hesitant now than before he'd left and she was worried that he had regretted how he'd reacted when he first arrived earlier.

"Thanks," she said as she gestured toward the bag with her head. He nodded and walked a little closer, stopping right next to the bed.

"I check in with Leo and Norris," Logan started to explain as he reached out and gently ran his fingers over the top of her hand, before wrapping his hand around hers. The physical contact put her mind at ease, and she didn't feel quite as anxious as she had when he first walked in. "There's no news yet on Doug," he said as he lightly squeezed her hand and continued to stroke the back of it with his thumb. She gave him a grim look and nodded. "If you're ready to change, I can wait for you in the hall."

"Okay," she said softly as she gave him a troubled look. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before he let go and walked toward the door. She really didn't want him to leave, but realized asking him to stay while she changed was probably a bit more forward than where things currently stood with them at the moment. She wasn't even really sure where things did stand exactly, but she wanted to get out of the hospital before they tried to figure that out. He was almost to the door when she changed her mind. "Logan… can you stay… please… just close your eyes… or turn around… but don't leave again?" She could feel her anxiety over the shooting start to creep back in and she really didn't want to be alone anymore.

He gave her an understanding smile and nodded, before turning toward the wall. She pulled out a tank top and yoga pants and then realized that he'd also placed a large zip-up sweatshirt on the bed next to her bag. She assumed it was probably his based on the size. She appreciated that it would be warm, yet loose on her arm with the stitches. After she had the pants and tank on, she asked him if he could help her with the sweatshirt. He turned back around and nodded again as he walked toward her. He carefully put it on her injured arm first, before helping her get her second arm into it.

He was standing in front of her as he carefully zipped it up and then tipped his head down so he could kiss her on the forehead. She leaned into him and nuzzled her head against his chest after the kiss as he gently wrapped his arms around her, avoiding her injury. "Thank you," she whispered softly as she leaned more into him. She could hear his heart beating as she rested her head there against him, and the rhythmic sound helped to sooth her frayed nerves. They stood like that for a minute or two with his cheek resting gently on the top of her head. "Ready to go?" he finally asked softly. She nodded against his chest and then placed a kiss there before moving away.

"I can take you to your dad's if you want, but I really don't want to just leave you there alone," Logan said as he stared down at her. "I could stay with you... or you could come to my place."

"I don't want to be alone either," she said as she nodded in reply. "Will Heather…" before she could ask if Heather would mind if she stayed with them, Logan interrupted her.

"Heather's staying over at a friend's tonight," he explained. "So it would just be the two of us if you wanted to come to my house. But I want you to be where ever you'll feel the most comfortable."

"I'd like to stay at your house," she said softly as she looked up into his worried brown eyes. A grateful smile slowly formed on his face as he nodded and then placed a warm tender kiss on her lips.

_**A/N – I hope you all enjoyed finally getting to the LoVe! I know there were lots of questions and thoughts about how this would all play out. I, of course, had some really specific things I was trying to do with the storyline. **_

_**While I loved bringing Troy into the story, because I love his banter with Veronica too, I didn't want Logan to only profess his love for her out of jealousy. So I didn't want Logan to know about the date with Troy beforehand, because that would only lead to questions regarding Logan's motivations. I'm sure some readers might question why I even had her accept the date, but it's still something that she is now going to have to deal with and addressing her rash reactions to situations she's misread is something that they'll need to work on if they want a healthy relationship this time. I may have also decided to add Troy after binge watching season 1 of Killjoys. He's got some pretty good snark in that show too. I recommend it if you like Aaron Ashmore and enjoy SyFy Firefly type shows. It's only 10 episodes, but they did get picked up for a second season. (Thank goodness! If you watch it you'll know what I mean! Cliffhanger much?!)**_

_**I also wanted it to be clear, that Logan had come to the realization that he wanted to be with Veronica before her life was in danger and that it wasn't just an overly emotional reaction to thinking she may have been critically wounded. Of course that prompted his reaction to be much stronger when he finally did tell her, but he was already planning to before that happened, which is why he'd called her that morning. And as many of you suspected, Kayla was the one who instigated the kiss and he told her he loved Veronica instead. Again, openly discussing things with Logan and not jumping to conclusions is something Veronica will still need to work on. **_

_**Now that I've shared my thoughts, please take a moment and leave me yours!**_


	35. Chapter 35

_**A/N – Sorry this update took even longer than I had expected. Things have been really busy for me again, so I'm not going to be able to spoil you all with weekly updates, but I will still try to get something up every two weeks at least. **_

_**Thank you for all the wonderful comments on the last chapter. I know it took a really long time to get to the LoVe, but we finally got there. This chapter was tough because she's going through so much right now after everything that just happened. It was really difficult to get just the right balance of things, which also was another reason this took so long. I'm hoping the next chapter will be easier to pull together. I also feel bad because you all had to wait so long for this one, and it's probably not as much as you all had hoped for. I guess they can't all be epic chapters unfortunately. **_

_**Thanks again to my fabulous beta, Bondopoulos, who I couldn't do this with out! **_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 35

Veronica waited inside with the other officers while Logan went to get the car and then picked her up at the entrance to the ER. He carefully helped her get buckled in. She was grateful for how mindful he was of where the stitches were on her arm. They didn't say much on the drive to his house. When Logan had first pulled out of the hospital parking lot, Veronica had leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. She wondered if he'd stayed quiet in case she had fallen asleep. She opened her eyes and gave him a weak smile when he parked his car in the garage.

Logan seemed a bit nervous as he led Veronica into the house after helping her out of the car. "Are you hungry? Or can I get anything for you?" He asked a bit hesitantly as he set his keys on the counter.

She probably should be hungry, but with everything that had happened she really didn't have an appetite. She shook her head and let out a sigh. He nodded in understanding and took her hand, leading her to the living room. All she really felt at that moment was exhausted and filthy. The nurse had helped clean her off somewhat, but it really wasn't enough.

"Could I..." she started to ask and then paused a moment as she felt a bit uncomfortable. They were half way to the living room and he stopped, turning to give her a somber expectant look. She wasn't sure why she felt so odd making her request. "Could I take a bath?"

"Of course," he replied with a compassionate smile. "Do you want to wait down here while I go fill my tub for you?"

She shook her head resolutely. She really didn't want to be alone because she was afraid she'd start thinking more about what had happened. She knew that eventually she'd need to be alone again, but for now, she really wasn't ready to be.

"Okay," he said softly. He gingerly wrapped his arm around her shoulder and they started walking to the stairs. When they reached the top, he led her toward what she assumed was his bedroom. This was absolutely not the way she had wanted to see his bedroom, but nothing about them ever seemed to go normally. She briefly glanced around his room as they walked into it. It was located on the backside of the house, so it faced out toward the ocean. He of course had a very luxurious looking king-sized bed and elegant furniture spread throughout the room. There was even a gas fireplace on one wall with a large flat screen TV above it. It looked a bit like something you'd see in a magazine and she imagined he'd likely hired someone to decorate it for him. He led her into the master bathroom and she took a seat on the tiled edge around the large tub.

"Bubbles?" he asked with a slightly chagrined expression.

She nodded slowly and gave him a small smile. She remembered several bubble baths they took together at the Grand, so wasn't surprised he'd have bubble bath here.

He started the water and then opened a cabinet to locate a bottle of bubble bath, pouring the fragrant liquid in as water began filling the tub. Veronica sat and quietly watched the bubbles rise as more water splashed into the tub. Logan opened another cabinet and pulled out a big towel and a fluffy white robe. When the tub was full, Logan turned the water off and gave her a tender smile. "I'll just..." He gestured with his head back toward his room. "I'll be right out there."

"Could you..." she started to ask with a pleading look.

"Close my eyes and stay?" he asked softly and gave her a compassionate smile.

She nodded.

"Of course," he said as he took a seat on the other end from where she was.

She stood up and unzipped the sweatshirt. It was so large that it fell easily off her shoulders and down to the ground. He gave her a small smile before he closed his eyes.

She carefully took off the rest of her clothes and then climbed into the large tub, making sure to not get her arm with the stitches wet. She glanced down and decided that the enormous pile of bubbles was sufficiently covering her. It wasn't as if Logan hadn't seen her naked many times before, but given how they had ended up here, she thought taking it slow was prudent. "You can open your eyes now," she told him.

He slowly opened his eyes and turned toward her with a worried look on his face. Her left arm was resting on the edge near him and he reached down and gently squeezed her hand. She squeezed his hand back and gave him a soft smile. She wondered whether he knew how fragile she was really feeling. Based on his behavior, she guessed he had a pretty good idea.

Logan had set out a washcloth for her, and Veronica picked it up from the edge of the tub. She put it into the water and scrubbed a bit at her legs and stomach. She was mostly just staring down at the bubbles by her feet, rather than looking anywhere else. She really didn't want to see the blood again. When she felt like she'd gotten enough of her legs and stomach washed off, she looked back up at Logan. "Will you do my back?" she asked as she pulled the washcloth out of the bubbles and held it out to him. She watched as he swallowed hard and nodded. She leaned forward so that she was hugging her knees with her uninjured arm, and he moved to the other end of the tub so he could reach her back. He knelt down next to the tub this time instead of sitting on the edge and rolled up his sleeves so he could rub her back with the wet washcloth. She turned her head to the side and rested it against her knees and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. A part of her really wanted him in the tub with her, but the logical part won out. She knew that probably wasn't wise considering everything that had just happened and the fact they hadn't really talked about where things stood between them yet. She thought back to the night she showed up at the Grand when they'd last reconciled. They hadn't really talked about things before jumping head first into being together again. She wasn't sure if talking then would have made a difference to them breaking up later, but given where things stood between them now, it seemed to be the prudent thing to do. Unfortunately, thoughts of that night years ago were suddenly erased with flashes of what had just happened earlier that evening. She abruptly opened her eyes and took a sharp breath. She could see Logan watching her intently over her shoulder. He was still moving his hand with the washcloth gently over her back, but his expression had become more troubled.

"You doing okay?" he asked in a very low, concerned tone. She thought she'd been doing okay, but was starting to feel the anxiety about everything that had happened slowly creep back in. Based on the way he was looking at here, he must have been able to see it in her expression.

Veronica suddenly felt the tears that she'd been able to stop while at the hospital return. She slowly shook her head as she closed her eyes tightly again. She really didn't want to fall apart, but maybe that's what he'd been expecting to happen anyway. She pulled her injured arm toward her, wrapping it over her head as she sobbed into the side of it. She felt him lean into the tub and wrap his left arm carefully around her knees, while the other arm rested gently across her back as his hand stroked her head soothingly.

"It's okay, Veronica," he said tenderly as he kissed the side of her head. She could hear him trying to sooth her as she continued to cry against her arm. "You're okay, sweetheart."

She fought to get her composure back. "I'm sorry..." she finally said weakly.

"You don't need to apologize," he said as he leaned back a little bit to look at her. There was still a tremendous amount of concern still on his face. "Do you want to get out?"

She nodded and he kissed her one more time on the side of the head before he stood up and reached for the towel.

"Do you want me to wait in my room?"

She shook her head and he gave her an understanding nod as he held the towel open for her and closed his eyes again.

She stood up and tried not to cry as she noticed some blood on her thigh that still hadn't been washed off. She grabbed the washcloth that he'd set down and scrubbed at her thigh until it was gone. He must have been able to hear what she was doing and a slight frown formed on his face, but he didn't say anything. It was easy to see how distraught he was as well over the events of the day as he stood there with his eyes closed, unaware of the way she was studying him. While his concern for her should have been comforting, it seemed to have the opposite effect and make the anxiety and panic over what had happened earlier come rushing back. She grabbed the towel and tried to dry off, but felt the tears and hysteria starting to build again. She managed to wrap the towel around her body before she started to sob and then crashed against him.

"I killed him," she whimpered against Logan's chest. Finally saying out loud what she couldn't bring herself to say earlier.

"Oh, Veronica," he said softly as he wrapped his arms around her. He was whispering that it was all going to be okay, which she barely heard over her own sobbing. He somehow scooped her up and gently carried her back into his bedroom. There was a large oversized chair in the corner near the fireplace, and he sat down on it while he was still holding her in his lap. He held her protectively against his body as she continued to cry against his chest.

It took a while, but she slowly regained her composure. Logan released his hold on her a bit when she started to sit up a little straighter. "Have you…" she took a slow breath before saying anymore, turning to search his eyes to see if he understood.

"Yeah, twice," he replied softly before she completed the question. She appreciated that he was able to know exactly what she was going to ask without even having to say it.

"Does it get easier?" she asked quietly, placing her cheek back against his chest.

"You know, deep down, that you didn't take the shot to end someone's life, Veronica, but rather to save others," Logan said in a somber quiet voice as he gently stroked her hair. "If you hadn't, he likely would have shot you again, or Norris."

Veronica took a sharp breath and nodded slowly.

"I know. It's still hard though," Logan said before placing a tender kiss on her temple.

She sat up a bit more so she could look at him again. He moved one of his arms so that he could reach up and gently wipe away a few stray tears that were still under her eyes. She glanced down at his chest and realized that she'd pretty much soaked the front of him. It was probably a combination of him trying to comfort her when she was still in the tub, and then when she'd climbed out and cried all over him.

"Sorry I got you all wet," she said softly as she lightly traced her fingers over his damp shirt.

"I'll dry," he replied with a tender smile.

Veronica was just starting to feel a little better, when she heard Logan's cell phone chime and a sense of panic started to spread through her again. He gave her a troubled look as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Is it Leo?" she asked hesitantly.

Logan looked at his screen and shook his head. "It's a text from Mac. She wanted to make sure that you're okay and to see if there's anything she can do to help."

Veronica shook her head and then leaned back against Logan as she let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. He kissed the top of her head and then she heard him tapping on his phone screen.

"How about I call and get us some delivery from Luigi's?" he asked once he'd finished what Veronica assumed was a message back to Mac.

"I didn't think Luigi's delivered," Veronica said as she opened her eyes and tipped her head so she could look at him again.

He gave her a little wink. "That's one of the perks of being a part owner."

"I'm not really hungry," Veronica said as she returned her head to rest on his chest once more.

"You might change your mind by the time it gets here," he replied and gently caressed her back. "What sounds better rigatoni, lasagna or the fiorentina again?" he asked after placing a soft kiss on her head.

"I don't know," she said with a sigh. "I um… I think I'll go put the robe on."

Logan gave her an understanding smile and nodded as he removed his arms so that she could stand back up. She grabbed the towel to keep it in place as she climbed off his lap and walked back to the bathroom. As she started to close the door, she could hear him saying hello to whoever had answered the phone at the restaurant. She closed the door and leaned against it and closed her eyes again. She could hear him talking through the door, but it was just a low rumble now and she couldn't really make out individual words. She heard him stop though, and realized she'd been just standing there for several minutes. She took a deep breath and walked over to where the robe was lying and slipped off the towel so she could put the robe on.

She wanted to forget what happened just hours before and focus on just being there with Logan. She was angry at herself that she wasn't able to do that and that thoughts about what had happened kept flooding her mind. She carefully put the robe on and walked over to splash some cool water on her face. She sighed as she saw her red puffy eyes staring back at her. This was certainly not how she ever envisioned their reunion would go.

When she opened the bathroom door, she found Logan sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for her. She could tell he was still terribly concerned about her, and didn't really blame him with how she was doing so far.

"Hey," he said softly as he looked up at her with a faint smile. She forced herself to smile back as she walked toward him and then reached out and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Thanks for taking care of me," she said as she gazed into his worried brown eyes. He nodded and reached out to place his hands softly on her hips.

"I always want to take care of you… you should know that by now," he replied almost nostalgically.

"I know," she said in response. She smiled a bit more as she kept running her fingers through his hair.

"So…" he started almost nervously. She could imagine that he probably wasn't sure exactly how fragile she was at this point and was trying to be cautious with her. He'd certainly seen her fall apart several times in the past. The worst being the night she thought Cassidy had killed her dad.

"So…" she repeated back, with a bit more of a smile than she'd had since she'd gotten out of the bathtub. She watched as he visibly relaxed a bit more as he took in her smile. She could imagine that her reaction after Mac's text had worried him. "We should probably talk about this… about us?" she said softly as she kept staring into his eyes.

"Yeah… we should…" he said as he continued to make small circles on her hips with his thumbs. "I wasn't sure you'd feel up to that tonight, though."

"Yeah… I just…" she paused a moment trying to find the right words. "I want things to be different this time… better… I know last time we… well we sort of just jumped right into things again…"

He cocked an eyebrow at her suggestively. "If by _things_ you mean my bed… then yes… yes we did."

She let out a soft chuckle and nodded, but before she could say anything, his expression became slightly more serious and he started talking again. "I want the same thing Veronica… for things to be better this time." He paused and reached up with one hand to brush along her cheek. "At first I didn't think that would ever be possible for us again, but the longer you've been back and the more we've talked… the more I'm convinced that it really will be this time. You have no idea how much your belief in me now means to me."

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. He moved one hand up her back and she could feel his fingers tenderly cradle her head as they kissed. She slid onto his lap and continued kissing him. His hand that had been on her hip shifted and she felt his fingers slowly moving down her thigh toward her knee. A moment later, his hand had reached the edge of the robe and she felt his warm hand rest gently right above her knee. They stopped kissing after a moment and she pulled her head away so she could better see his face. She reached up with her uninjured arm and traced her fingers along his temple and then down toward his lips. She really did want things to be different this time, which meant being more honest and open about her feelings.

"I really do love you, Logan," she said before she over rationalized it and kept it to herself. His face lit up even more than she'd remembered seeing before. "That's why I believe in you as much as I do."

He took a deep breath and then kissed her again. His hand that had been on her knee shifted up to wrap around her back as he pulled her a little closer to him. "I love you too," he said as their lips separated slightly.

"Madly?" she asked with a faint smile on her lips, thinking back to what he'd said at the hospital.

He laughed and she felt him nod his head against hers before he was kissing her again. "Yes, madly," he said breathlessly when he stopped kissing her a few seconds later.

They were about to kiss again, when she heard his cell phone ring. He gave her an apologetic look as he pulled it out of his pocket. "It's Leo," he said softly. She nodded and took a deep breath as he answered it.

She was sitting close enough to be able to hear Leo as well through the phone. He let them know that they'd finally finished operating on Doug. He was still listed in critical condition, but had made it through the surgery to remove the bullet and repair what they could of the damage. It could be a while before they were able to upgrade his condition, but surviving the surgery was a positive sign at this point. Leo also asked how Veronica was doing.

Logan gave her a quick look and gently squeezed her knee. "She's doing okay. It's been a traumatic day for her too though, of course."

Leo said that he'd heard from her dad and gave him the full story of what had happened. He said that Keith was going to try to get back as soon as possible, but at that point he wouldn't be able to get a return flight until the next morning. Logan thanked him for the update before he ended the call. He reached up and stroked Veronica's head as he placed a tender kiss on her cheek.

"I hope Doug will be okay," Veronica whispered as she leaned into Logan more.

"Me too," he said somberly as he rested his head on her shoulder and placed a soft kiss there as well.

They sat quietly holding each other for a little while, the gravity of Doug's situation weighing heavily on both of them. The silence was finally interrupted by the sound of Logan's doorbell.

"I'd better go get our food," he said as she started to climb off of his lap. "Do you want to come downstairs to eat, or I could bring the food up here?"

"I'll come down," she answered as he stood and reached out to offer her his hand. She intertwined her fingers with his and they headed back out of the room together.

Veronica took a seat in the living room as Logan went to the door to get the food. He returned a few minutes later with a large cardboard box.

"Are you planning a dinner party?" Veronica teased as he carried it in and sat it on the table in front of her.

Logan laughed and shook his head. "You weren't sure what sounded good, so I got several options. Luigi's always makes for excellent leftovers, so I figure we'll eventually eat it all."

He started taking containers out and opening them on the table. The aroma of food was at least helping to bring back her appetite. She decided on the rigatoni as Logan returned from the kitchen with plates and utensils. They didn't talk much while they ate, both likely lost in their own thoughts about everything that was going on.

Veronica was completely exhausted by the time they finished eating. It had been a hellacious day, both mentally and physically, and she was certainly feeling the effects. After they put all the leftovers away, she asked if she could borrow a t-shirt to sleep in since she really didn't want to put back on the clothes she'd worn home from the hospital. He led her back upstairs and pulled a t-shirt out of his dresser for her to wear. He also volunteered to wash the clothes that she'd worn home and she agreed, though followed him back down to the laundry room, rather than staying put on the bed as he'd suggested.

When they finally made it back upstairs again, she asked if they could watch a movie before they went to sleep. She was hoping that would be enough of a distraction to help her fall asleep without thoughts of the shooting haunting her. He happily obliged and let her choose what they watched. She barely made it past the opening scene before she'd fallen asleep, curled up against his chest.

Veronica awoke with a start. She knew it was just a dream, but her heart was racing and she was gasping for breath. Logan rolled toward her and pulled her against his chest. "You're okay, Veronica," he mumbled softly against her head.

She nodded and clung tightly to him. He stroked her back as he tried to reassure her that she was safe. She slowly started to calm down.

"I'm sorry… I woke you up," she said as she took a deep breath against his chest.

He placed a kiss on her forehead. "You don't need to apologize."

She leaned up so she could look into his eyes. It must have been early morning because there was some light coming in through his curtains. He reached up and brushed hair off her face. "Good morning," she said with a small smile.

"Good morning," he replied reverently. He shook his head slightly as he continued to smile at her and stroke her hair. "Do you have any idea how great it feels to wake up with you in my arms?"

Veronica smiled and nodded. "Yeah… I do." She leaned forward so she could kiss him.

When their lips separated she gave him a shy smile. "I missed you," she said in a very soft serious tone. "More than you could probably ever know."

The smile that had been on his face faded and his expression became much more pensive. "Really?" he asked as if he didn't quite believe her.

"Yes," she said with a tender smile as she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. "There were so many times after I left that I missed you. No one has ever meant as much to me as you did. I know I know I've said this already, but I'm so sorry for how everything ended last time."

He cupped her head gently as he kissed her again. "I love you so much, Veronica," he said when their lips parted. "Please promise… that no matter what happens this time… that you'll never just shut me out of your life again?"

"I promise," she said with a loving smile. She nestled her head against his chest again and felt him let out a relieved sigh as he wrapped his arms around her and placed a slow tender kiss on her head.

They stayed in bed for a while longer, just snuggled together. She couldn't fall back asleep, and after a while her arm started aching. She wasn't sure if he'd fallen asleep again, so she shifted slightly, but as soon as she moved he did as well.

"You okay?" he asked with a concerned tone.

"Sore…" she replied as she sat up on the bed.

"I've got some decent pain meds from my last rib injury if you want to take one. Did the doctor give you anything last night?" Logan asked as he also sat up next to her.

"Yeah… well a prescription I could get filled today."

He nodded in reply and climbed out of bed, heading for the bathroom. He returned a few minutes later with a pill bottle and a glass of water. "Percocet," he explained as he handed her the glass of water and then opened the pill bottle. "It's a pretty low dose though, so you shouldn't feel too groggy, but it will help with your arm. I'm guessing one is enough for now." She nodded and held her hand up for him to place a pill on. "I can take you to the pharmacy later, or back to get your car… whatever works better for you."

"I know you were originally scheduled to be off today, but do you have to go in to help cover today?" Veronica asked after she swallowed the pill.

Logan shook his head. "No, when I talked to Leo last night on my way back with your bag, he said he'd already contacted the other off-duty team and they were going to help cover the weekend."

"What if we go out on the yacht? Just get away from everything?" Veronica asked hopefully.

Logan looked genuinely surprised, but didn't disagree at all. "Sure… if that's what you want to do."

"I do… just you and me… relax and spend today and tomorrow all alone out on the ocean."

"Okay," he replied with a hesitant expression. "If you're sure that you shouldn't stay around for when your dad comes back."

Veronica shook her head. "Nope, I'll send him a text and let him know that we're going to be gone so he doesn't need to worry about coming back right away. Maybe we can get dinner on Catalina."

"Yeah… sure we could do that… if you're feeling up to it," Logan replied, still seeming a bit hesitant about her idea.

"Great," she said with a broad smile. "How about I show you how to make French toast? You have eggs and bread right?"

"Yeah… I'm sure we do."

"Great… cooking lesson number two," she said as she sat the glass down on the table next to the bed and climbed out to stand in front of him. She leaned up on her toes and placed a quick kiss on his lips. "Come on," she said as she grabbed his hand and started leading him to the door.

Once they made it down the stairs, she retrieved her cell phone from her bag that she'd left downstairs the night before. She powered it back on and quickly glanced at the text messages. There were two from her dad, one from Wallace and one from Mac. The first one from her dad must have been when he first landed, and the second one from after he talked to Leo. She quickly sent him one that she felt like a little R&amp;R and was going to head over to Catalina with Logan and that she'd be back Sunday evening. She told him not to worry about rushing home and that he should wrap up his case before he came back. The message from Wallace was from later than her dad's and he said his mom had called and told him what happened. Wallace said that if there was anything she needed to let him know. She quickly replied back to that one, thanking him and letting him know she was doing fine. Mac's was similar in tone to Wallace's, and was probably sent before Mac had sent a message to Logan. Veronica sent her a quick message that she was doing better today and then switched her phone off again.

She'd asked Logan if he could start getting the ingredients out while she checked her phone and noticed he was standing there against the kitchen counter watching her with a worried expression on his face. "Ready to learn to make French toast?" she asked with a broad smile as she walked over next to him.

"We could just have eggs and toast, Veronica," he said with the same concerned look on his face. "You don't have to give me a cooking lesson this morning."

"It'll be fun," she said as she scanned over the ingredients he had pulled out so far. She asked for a few more things, which he dutifully found for her, and then she started to explain how to mix up the batter for the bread. Since her arm was aching a bit still, she had him do all the work while she just gave him instructions.

"Mmm… delicious," she murmured after taking her first bite when it was all prepared. "I'll turn you into a real chef yet."

Logan laughed and shook his head at her. "Well at least I have two dishes that I can now prepare with a loaf of bread."

"Grilled Cheese and French Toast… that's all you really ever need," Veronica replied with a playful smile.


	36. Chapter 36

_**A/N – Just a quick warning that I'm probably going to be moving toward longer gaps between updates, maybe every two weeks instead of weekly like before. I'm still planning to rotate between the three stories though, so the next one up is Marshmallows and Moonlight. **_

_**Thanks again to my fabulous beta, Bondopoulos, who I couldn't do this with out! And thanks to all of you wonderful readers too! I'm so excited that this story has passed 700 reviews! I really do appreciate all the support from all of you.**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 36

After they finished eating, Veronica helped Logan clean things up a bit. She reflected back on what had happened during breakfast as she rinsed off plates for him to put in the dishwasher. Their conversation had stayed fairly light, revolving around the food and some general plans for the day. She was pretty sure Logan was intentionally trying to avoid anything too stressful which she did appreciate. There had been some affectionate caresses and tender looks, but things seemed quite a bit different to her when compared to how they had behaved in the past when they were alone together. It also felt a bit inconsistent with how passionate Logan had been when he charged into her hospital room the night before. Veronica was trying not to worry about it, but couldn't help but wonder if he was feeling different now for some reason.

Logan gave her a slightly nervous grin when all the dirty dishes were loaded into the dishwasher. "I was going to go up and take a quick shower before I take you to the pharmacy and your dad's," he explained with a hesitant expression. "I'll be quick so you won't have to wait long."

Veronica crooked an eyebrow at him. "What, no invitation?" she asked somewhat flirtatiously.

Instead of the wolfish grin Veronica had expected to see, Logan's expression became a bit troubled. He reached up to gently brush his hand through her hair. "Whether or not you're just teasing, I think we'd better hold off on that. At least until you've had a little more time to process everything," he replied somberly.

Veronica gave him a slightly dissenting look. "I'm fine, Logan… and I was just teasing anyway." _Not that I would have turned him down if it had been offered._

Logan narrowed his eyes slightly as he smiled and nodded. "Okay… You're of course welcome to shower here as well. There's a guest suite down the hall from mine and I can get your clothes from the dyer."

"That sounds great," Veronica answered with a nod. "Thanks." She gave him an appreciative smile even though she was thinking about how nineteen-year-old Logan would never have turned down even the slightest hint of showering together. She knew that there were extenuating circumstances right now, so she continued trying to avoid making a big deal about it.

Logan leaned in closer so he could kiss her temple, and then reached down to intertwine his hands with hers. He led her to the laundry room and then pulled her clothes out of the dryer. He offered to carry them up to the guest suite before they turned and headed back to the stairs. Once they reached the top, he pointed to the first door on the right.

"That's Heather's room," he explained as they walked past it. "And this," he continued as they reached the next door on the right, a bit farther down the hall than the entrance to his room, "is the guest room."

They walked into the nicely decorated, yet modest, room together. "Do you get many guests?" Veronica asked curiously as she glanced around at the bed and furnishings.

Logan shrugged and shook his head. "Not really. Heather's friends sometimes stay over I guess, but that's about it." He led her into the adjoining bathroom, which was clearly not as luxurious as his, but still quite a bit nicer than ones she was used to.

"Oh, I have some waterproof bandages," Logan said as he pulled a towel out of the cabinet for her.

"Great, thanks," Veronica said with a smile. "I take it you've had to use them a time or two?" she asked with a quirked brow.

Logan chuckled and nodded. He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. "I'll be right back, okay?" he asked almost cautiously.

She smiled and nodded. She had barely let him out of her sight since they arrived there the night before, but she was feeling more secure now. "Yep," she said with a reassuring smile. "I'll be right here waiting patiently for you."

Logan gave her a concerned look and put his hand on her forehead. "Veronica Mars, patient? There must be something seriously wrong with you." He smirked as she poked him in the stomach. He leaned in and gave her another quick kiss. "Back in a jiffy," he said before he disappeared out the door.

With nothing else to do, Veronica took a minute to study herself in the mirror. Even though she thought she'd slept fairly well the night before, she could tell that she looked weary. She didn't want to start thinking about the shooting again though. She was about to head over to his room to find Logan when he appeared in the doorway. He gave her a curious look, but didn't say anything as he held up the box of bandages. He asked if she needed help removing the current bandage that had been put on at the hospital and replacing it with the waterproof one. She nodded in agreement and he carefully went to work. She wondered how many times he'd done the same thing on his own injuries. There were certainly some that Aaron had caused and likely some from working at the sheriff's department as well.

"All right. You're good to go," Logan said with a tender smile as he finished up. "I'll be in my room if you need anything. Just knock on my bathroom door if you need me, okay?"

Veronica couldn't help but give him a slightly puzzled look but nodded anyway. She couldn't remember any other time he'd told her to knock before she barged into his bathroom, but wasn't going to say anything about it. He leaned in and gave her another kiss before he left the room again. She started the shower, and found herself feeling more anxious the longer she was there alone, so she didn't stay in very long. She quickly dried off and put on her clean clothes and then headed toward Logan's room. He must have showered quickly too because he was just opening his bathroom door as she walked in.

"Hey," he said with a warm smile as he finished pulling a t-shirt over his head. "Everything okay?"

She nodded and smiled in reply, taking a moment to appreciate his freshly showered appearance. He told her that he just needed a few minutes to pack some stuff to take on the yacht and then they could go. She took a seat on his bed and watched as he went into the walk-in closet and started putting clothes into a duffle bag. She noticed that he kept glancing back out at her for brief moments as he was packing. Veronica found her mind wandering to what she would rather be doing with him that involved far less clothes than what they were currently wearing. She thought about his reaction downstairs when she'd teased him about the shower, and decided not to make any comments so soon. She was hoping that if he saw that she was fine the rest of the afternoon, maybe he'd be less reluctant to speed up the _rekindling_ process.

They left shortly after Logan had all of his things ready. Their first stop was at the pharmacy to get her prescription filled. Logan went inside with her, but Veronica told him he could sit on one of the waiting chairs rather than waiting in line with her. She knew she was feeling a little needy, but was also starting to feel like she was being a bit ridiculous about it. When she came back over to him after getting the pills, Logan let her know that he'd called the yacht club to get everything ready for them to go out on the boat. He also mentioned that he had called Heather to let her know what had happened and to see if she could stay another night at her friend's house.

Once they were back in the car, they decided that the next stop would be her dad's house. She told Logan that she would just get her car at the station once they were back from Catalina. She knew it would be safe parked in the lot there, and she really didn't want to deal with anything related to her job yet. Since Keith was still in New Mexico, the house was empty when they arrived. Weevil must have stopped by to get Backup again as well. She found a note from Weevil on the counter, saying he had dropped by to take Backup and to let him know if there was anything he could do to help. As Veronica read the note, she felt some anxiety creep back in, and she wanted nothing more than to just get out of Neptune. She wanted nothing more than to get on the yacht and sail off, leaving all the things bothering her behind.

Veronica led Logan back to the guest room she was using and he stopped just inside the entrance. He leaned against the doorframe, watching as she began to pack her things. Even before she'd finished zipping the bag closed, he was at her side, ready to carry it to the car for her. She appreciated the help, and gladly let him pick it up, but couldn't help notice that slight edge of worry that was still in his eyes.

She leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss him. It started as tender kisses, but she quickly deepened it and then heard the bag fall on the bed as his arms wrapped around her. One of his hands caressed up her back into her hair, while the other one rested on her lower back. Logan's back had been closest to the bed and Veronica pushed slightly on him until he ended up sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Much better," she whispered teasingly against his lips. "I like having the height advantage for a change." She felt him laugh against her lips as he continued to kiss her. Without breaking the kiss, she shifted from standing between his knees to straddling his lap. Their breathing had gotten more labored the longer they kissed, and she really wanted to be doing more than just kissing. She started to gently rock against him and heard a soft moan escape his lips before his hands landed firmly on her hips, stopping her movement.

"I um…" he panted against her mouth. "I think we should probably get going to the yacht before we get too carried away here."

She leaned slightly away from him and traced her fingers along his face. "What if I want to get carried away?" she asked with a suggestive expression.

Logan chuckled nervously before giving her a somber look. "Veronica, you've just been through a very traumatic experience. I think you need some time to deal with everything before we do something like that."

Her suggestive expression changed to one of discontent. "I'm fine, Logan," she replied as she ran her fingers into his hair. "I'm feeling much better today than I did last night."

He looked at her skeptically even though he nodded in agreement. "Okay… I just think you need a little more time."

"I'm not that fragile, Logan," she replied almost obstinately. "And it's not like we haven't been together before."

It seemed as if Logan was trying to give her a comforting smile, but she could still see the worry in his eyes. "I know," he replied as he nodded. "You have no idea how much restraint this is taking, but I really believe it's for the best to wait until you've had a little more time to process things." He paused and studied her carefully, reaching up to brush some hair off of her forehead. "Do you want to stick around Neptune today and maybe talk to someone? I'm sure Kayla would be happy to talk with you today, which might help."

Veronica shook her head resolutely. "No. I don't need to do that, Logan. I just… I just want to go out on the yacht with you."

"Okay," he replied with a reassuring smile as he gently ran his other hand up and down her back. "We can do that." He leaned toward her and kissed her again, but this time it was firmer and more controlled. "I love you, Veronica," he said after the kiss, while his forehead still rested against hers. "I just want what's best for you."

She softened slightly at his tone and response. "I know," she said quietly before placing a quick kiss on his lips again. "Let's head to the marina then." She really hoped that being out on the ocean would make them both feel better and more at ease being together again.

Veronica insisted on calling the hospital on the way to the marina to check in to see how Doug was doing. She quickly glanced at her text message notifications after she powered on her phone again and saw some new ones from her dad and Wallace. She skipped reading those and looked up the hospital's number instead. She was frustrated when the hospital staff wouldn't release any patient information to her, so she called Leo instead. She felt Logan reach over and gently stroke her leg as she waited for Leo to answer. She turned to look at him and caught the same concerned expression on his face again. Leo let them know that Doug's condition hadn't changed from the night before, but that they were encouraged that he had made it through the night.

"How are you doing this morning?" Leo asked with a concerned tone after giving her an update on Doug.

"Better," Veronica answered, hoping to get off the phone as soon as possible now that she knew Doug's status.

"I do need to have you come in and give a formal statement," Leo said, sounding a tad hesitant.

"Oh…" Veronica had hoped to avoid doing that for a while longer. "Logan and I are on the way to the marina. We were going to go out on his yacht for the day."

"Maybe you could stop by the station on the way so we can take care of it," Leo suggested a bit more authoritatively. "The sooner we take care of that, the sooner we can wrap all that up and get you back to some sort of case work. I'm sure you'd like to continue working on the Donaldson case even if it's from a less active position."

Leave it to Leo to know exactly which way to manipulate her to ensure that she would come in. Veronica let out a deep sigh. "Fine, we'll stop in on our way to the marina," she replied reluctantly. Veronica glanced over at Logan, who could either hear Leo's side of the conversation, or, at least, had just guessed what they were talking about. He gave her a knowing look and took the next turn that would take them to the station rather than the marina.

Logan didn't wait for Veronica to ask him to come into the station with her, climbing out of the car as soon as they parked and walking over to open her door. When he reached out for her hand, she hesitated and gave him a troubled look.

"Is Leo going to be upset about this? About us?" Veronica asked as she stared down at his outstretched hand for a moment and then back up at him.

"Well he certainly won't let us be official partners," Logan said thoughtfully as he pulled his hand back to his side.

"You'd mentioned some other couple when I first visited the station. Thomas and someone?"

Logan smirked slightly. "I may have made that up to make sure Doug didn't try to hit on you," he said abashedly. "But, to be fair, Leo does try to discourage deputies from dating one another. We just haven't had many female deputies so it hasn't been too much of a concern before."

Veronica nodded in understanding. "So he won't be too upset about us being together again?"

Logan shrugged. "Well, I'm sure he's going to be upset about it, but not enough to fire either of us."

"How about the other deputies?"

"Oh, I'm sure they'll all be jealous," Logan said with a wolfish grin. "I am quite the catch you know."

Veronica rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. "That's not what I meant."

Logan chuckled before he replied. "I know it's not. But you're right. It would probably be best if we kept a low profile at the station and remained as professional as possible… at least when other people are around. That doesn't mean that if I get you alone in the evidence locker, that I won't take advantage of that," he added salaciously. She was a little surprised by his change in demeanor after how hesitant he'd been at her dad's house, but given their current surroundings, she could understand him feeling a bit more confident that she wasn't going to act on it there either.

Veronica gave him a chastising look before she climbed out of the car and started to walk toward the entrance. Even though she may have acted like she didn't agree with his suggestion, she had to admit that pulling him into an empty evidence locker before they left sounded awfully tempting. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that he was following a few steps behind her and she gave him an appreciative smile as she winked at him.

It didn't take her too long to provide her statement to Leo. Things had happened so fast that there weren't a whole lot of details that she could really provide. She felt her heartbeat become erratic when she thought about the incident again. Logan had taken a seat at his desk and was either really going through some paperwork, or just pretending to, while he waited for her. They quickly said goodbye to the rest of the staff in the office before heading back to Logan's car. He opened the car door for her and she climbed in and gave him a grateful smile as he closed the door behind her. Veronica rested her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes as she waited for him to walk around. She quickly realized that was a bad idea though, because she instantly started imaging the events from the night before replaying in her head. She felt a tear roll down her cheek before she opened her eyes and stared out the front window of Logan's SUV.

Moments after she heard Logan climb in and close his own door, she felt his fingers brush against her cheek. "Maybe we should just go back to my place. We can go out on the yacht another day," he suggested softly.

"No," she quickly answered as she shook her head. "I really want to go out on the yacht."

"Okay," he replied with a nod as she turned toward him. He gave her a weak smile, before he started the car and pulled out of the department's parking lot.

It didn't take them too long to reach the marina once they'd left the station. Logan climbed out and grabbed their bags before he met her next to the passenger side door. She reached out and took his hand in hers as they headed down to the yacht. Being so close to the ocean was already starting to make her feel better. There was a warm breeze blowing in off the water, and the sun was shining brightly. She tried to focus on the beauty of that, rather than the ugliness of what had happened the night before. She wished she could have skipped stopping at the station first, but at least that was out of the way now.

Logan carried their bags into the cabin's bedroom and then went about getting the yacht ready to go out. Like she had on their other trip, Veronica offered to help him get the ropes untied and then joined him on the upper most deck.

"Want to pilot her yourself?" Logan asked as he reached out his hand for hers and then positioned her in front of him where the steering wheel was located.

"_Her_, hmm?" Veronica asked with a mischievous lilt to her voice as she looked over her shoulder at him.

"Of course… all boats are referred to that way," Logan said with a devious smirk. When Veronica gave him a questioning look, he started talking again in the voice he always used when he would repeat a quote. "Like a woman, a ship is unpredictable." Veronica rolled her eyes and shook her head, earning a soft chuckle from him.

He reached down and grabbed her hands so he could put one on the steering wheel and the other on one of the levers. She turned her head forward again so she could watch what he was doing with her hands and he placed a quick kiss on the top of her head before he began to explain to her how to operate the boat. He mostly controlled it until they were out of the harbor, but then, once they were clear of any other boats, he let her take total control. It was definitely exhilarating to be in control of the yacht, and it helped to take her mind off of the other things that she'd just relived at the station. As they started getting closer to Catalina, Logan began giving her some directions again. She noticed that he was having her go much farther north than where they had searched for the weapon that had killed Benjamin. That of course also put them quite a ways from Avalon as well. He finally saw the spot he must have been looking for and slowed down the engine as he pointed to where he wanted her to go.

"This is quite a ways from Avalon, isn't it?" Veronica asked as Logan was putting the anchors in place. "I thought we were going to have dinner on the island?"

Logan shrugged as he finished the second anchor and walked back toward her. "If you're feeling up to a dinner date later we can always take the yacht over there, or we can just eat here too. I had the marina staff stock the fridge for us. In fact, there should be something we can have for lunch if you're hungry now?"

Veronica barely heard anything Logan had said after 'dinner date'. His comment suddenly reminded her that she actually had made a dinner date for that evening.

"Veronica?" Logan asked when she didn't answer whatever question she'd barely heard him ask.

"Oh… um… yeah…" Veronica stuttered out in reply. He gave her a curious look and cocked his head slightly at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked with a bit more concern to his tone.

"I um," she replied hesitantly with a grimaced expression on her face. "I forgot… I um…"

Logan chuckled nervously and shook his head. "Just tell me what's wrong?"

"I forgot I already had a dinner date scheduled for tonight," she said as she cringed slightly.

"Oh…" Logan replied, surprise clearly evident on his face. "Um… do you need me to take you back?" he asked uncertainly.

Veronica shook her head quickly. "No. I just need to cancel it."

Logan studied her a bit more closely as his expression became more inquisitive. "I take from your reaction that it wasn't with Wallace or Mac?"

Veronica bit on her lip for a moment and shook her head. "No…" She let out a deep sigh before she continued._ Starting out with any lies this time certainly isn't what I want to do. No matter how awkward this might get._ "I made a date to have dinner with Troy," Veronica shared apologetically.

"Oh…" Logan replied. She could see a bit of hurt cross his face even though he was trying to act like it didn't bother him.

"I'm sorry. I did it when I thought you were with Kayla on Thursday night," she explained regrettably, realizing now what had actually happened that night.

He gave her a troubled look before he spoke again. "Veronica, I did tell you before then that I wasn't interested in Kayla."

Veronica let out a deep sigh and nodded. "I know, but then I saw you kissing her. I guess… I guess I thought you had changed your mind. You had already told me that you weren't interested in a relationship with me."

Logan's expression softened slightly. "I know I did… I thought that was for the best… as misguided as that may have been." He paused for a minute before he continued. "I want you to trust me, Veronica, which includes believing me when I tell you something like that. This isn't going to work if you don't believe me. I hope you know how much it hurts me when you don't even give me a chance to explain things to you."

"I'm sorry, Logan," Veronica replied with a pleading expression. "I know I've been doing a terrible job since I've been back at jumping to conclusions and that hasn't been fair to you at all."

Logan nodded in reply and reached up to brush his hands through her hair. "Please just talk to me next time. Just ask me whatever you need to know. For this to work this time, we can't have doubts about each other."

Veronica nodded and gave him a weak smile. "I know. I promise I'll do that from now on."

Logan took a deep breath and then leaned toward her and placed a quick kiss on her lips. When he pulled away, he gave her a devious grin. "I guess you'd better make a phone call now, unless you'd like me to take you back so you can keep your date."

Veronica shook her head and laughed slightly. "Nope… no going back now, Echolls," she said salaciously as she leaned up to kiss him again.

"Good," he said a little breathlessly when their lips parted a few seconds later. "You'd better make that call."

Veronica nodded in agreement and then pulled her phone out and walked over to the nearest lounge chair to sit down.

"I'm going to go see about lunch," Logan said with a reassuring smile before he turned and headed into the cabin. Veronica appreciated that he didn't feel the need to hover while she called to talk to Troy.

It only took a couple rings before Troy answered his phone. "Hey, are you okay? I heard a deputy was shot last night and was worried sick. I tried to call, but it only went to your voicemail," Troy quickly blurted out as soon as he came on the line.

"Yeah… I um… well I was there and got a minor wound on my arm… but I'm okay…"

"Look, if you want to reschedule tonight's dinner, I completely understand."

"Yeah, about that… I um… well Logan and I are together again," Veronica said a bit awkwardly.

"Oh," Troy replied, followed by a long drawn out silence. "I guess that might explain his reaction to me being at the station the other day."

"Yeah… well there were other things going on that day, too, but I suppose part of it might have been due to his feelings for me."

"I um…" Troy started and then paused again. "I had heard a bit about the two of you being together when I came back to Neptune. I guess it was hard for me to imagine it with how he acted toward you in high school, but I guess we've all changed a lot since then."

"Yeah, we have," Veronica replied softly. "I am sorry about this."

"Hey, it's fine, Veronica. Really, no worries," Troy quickly responded. "Take care of yourself, and maybe I'll see you at another basketball game. Be sure to bring Logan next time, because it would be nice to spend some time catching up with him too."

"I will. And you too," Veronica replied before they both said goodbye and she hung up the phone.

When she got off the phone, Veronica headed into the cabin to see what Logan was doing. She found him in the kitchen area, removing containers from the fridge and placing them on the counter. He paused and gave her a mischievous smile. "Change of heart? Did he win you over with sweet talk so I need to take you back now?" he asked sarcastically.

She shook her head and narrowed her eyes as she walked over in front of him. She stopped when she was right in front of him and gave him a sincere smile. "Stop it. You know there's no one else. I only want you," she replied in her best imitation of what he'd said to her all those years before.

Logan took a deep breath. His expression became more sincere and he leaned down to kiss her. After a moment of bending down, he lifted her up and sat her on the counter, just barely missing the containers of food he'd placed there. His lips quickly moved from her mouth to passionately kissing her neck, causing her to moan and tangle her hands into her hair, pulling him even closer to her. After a few seconds of kissing her neck and under her ear, he moved back to her lips again.

"You know," she said seductively against his mouth as she tried to catch her breath a bit. "There's a big old lonely bed in the other room that might be more comfortable than this counter."

Logan chuckled softly and nodded his head against hers. "You know I meant more than just a couple of hours when I said I thought you needed more time to deal with everything, right?"

Veronica gave him her best pout. "I'm sure you could easily wash all my worries away with your magical touch, though," she said as she stroked her fingers through his hair.

Logan let out a deep sigh as he dropped his head to her shoulder. "You're a devious woman," he said as she felt him shake his head slightly against her.

She chuckled at him and kissed the top of his head. "Okay, how about you feed me some lunch, and then I'll see about making you give in to my evil demands."

He stood up straighter so that he could look her in the eyes again. "Deal," he replied with an amused smirk. The smirk disappeared after staring at her for a second though, replaced by a more sincere expression. "I really do love you, Veronica," he said as he stared into her eyes. "I'm sorry it took me so long to admit it to you again, but please believe me when I say that I never stopped."

"I do," she said as she nodded in reply. "And I feel the same way. You're one of the main reasons I came back, even if I didn't want to admit it at the time. I wasn't even sure you were still in the area, but really hoped that you were," she replied as she gave him a tender smile.

"Really?" he asked, seeming to be surprised by her admission. She nodded in reply and placed her right hand on his cheek. He leaned in to kiss her again as he pulled her a little tighter against him. He finally broke the kiss and panted slightly as he spoke again. "Okay, let's get you some food."

She gave him a sly smile and nodded in agreement. She still planned on getting her way, and decided that fueling up beforehand was a wise choice for sure.

Logan suggested that they eat out on the deck since it was a pleasantly warm afternoon. Their lunch at the small table on the deck was much more relaxed than the last time they'd eaten there. Veronica hoped that Logan wouldn't think back to the details of that painful conversation either. They started talking a bit about a new break in the case that he was helping with in LA. As they were finishing up with their lunch, Logan told her a little about the cove they were in. He said that it was called Goat Cove and that it was a very good diving spot. He also mentioned his earlier offer to teach her to dive, of course, once her arm was properly healed up.

She'd been trying to keep her mind on anything but the shooting, especially after having to give her statement at the station. Unfortunately though, his mention of her arm brought that all rushing back again. She felt herself take a shaky breath as she nodded in reply, not really even thinking about the question he'd asked. She stared down at the table in front of her, images from the night before flashing through her mind again. The man's body falling as she squeezed the trigger on her gun... seeing the wound immediately appear in his chest... the horrifying sound he made as he fell. She sucked in a loud sob before she realized what she was doing.

"Veronica," Logan said in a soft soothing voice as he scooted out of his chair and knelt in front of her. "You're okay, baby," he said as he reached up and gently brushed the side of her head.

Veronica felt the tears start to roll down her face. It was as if a dam inside of her had just broken. Logan pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face against his chest and continued to cry. She didn't want to feel this weak and devastated. She'd survived… she was safe… she'd stopped the bad guy… but she still felt so guilty and afraid. Logan caressed her back with one hand, while the other one rested firmly at the base of her neck. He tried his best to calm her back down, just as he had the night before. She had convinced herself that she was okay, that she was dealing with it just fine, but obviously she was wrong.

"Do you want to go back to Neptune?" Logan asked softly before placing a tender kiss on her head. "I'm sure we can get a hold of one of the psychologists that the department frequently uses for you to talk to them."

"No," Veronica mumbled against his chest. "I just want to stay out here with you." She took in a deep sobbing breath. "I'm not ready… to deal with more yet."

"Okay," Logan said in an understanding tone. "We can stay out here if that's what you want." She nodded in agreement against his chest. "I don't know exactly everything you're feeling, but I do know how it was for me. You may not feel like you want to talk to anyone about it right now, but, surprisingly, that really did help me deal with it."

"It's just…" she paused and sucked in a shaky breath. "I just want to forget it happened and not talk about it."

Logan gently stroked her head. "Bottling it all up inside isn't a healthy way to handle it though, Veronica. I think deep down you know that's true." Veronica sniffled against his shirt and shrugged slightly. She was sure he was probably right, but she really just wanted to forget about what happened. "Do you want to go and lay down inside? Maybe take a nap and get some more rest?"

"Will you stay with me?" Veronica asked in a quiet whisper.

"Of course I will," he replied before he kissed her head again. "I promise not to leave your side until you want me to."

She took a deep breath and leaned up so that she could look at his face. While there was still a lot of worry in his eyes, there was also so much love. Veronica leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. "I never want you to leave my side," she said as the kiss ended.

"Then that's where I'll always be," he replied before kissing her tenderly in return.

Once they were in the bedroom, Veronica curled up next to Logan on the bed with her head on top of his chest. He was slowly caressing her back with one hand, while the other rested on her waist. She was definitely feeling exhausted from the events of the day before, but she was afraid of what she might dream about if she fell asleep so soon after her breakdown out on deck. After a few minutes of silence, Veronica decided she'd rather talk for a while before trying to drift off to sleep.

"What made you decide to become a deputy?" she asked as she gently rubbed Logan's chest. She'd been curious about that ever since Mac and Wallace told her, but hadn't asked him yet.

She felt Logan take a deep breath before he slowly let it out. It seemed more like a reluctant reaction than anything else. She lifted up on her elbows so she could see his face and he gave her a grimaced smile while he shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"I guess it was you and Leo actually," he replied after a few seconds, looking slightly uncomfortable.

She gave him a puzzled look and shook her head, not understanding what he meant.

He took a few more seconds to search her eyes before he started to speak again. She could tell he still felt a bit uncertain about continuing on, but must have decided it was better to explain what had happened than to keep it to himself.

"Leo was the deputy that took the call when Dick was admitted to the hospital," Logan started to explain with a very somber expression on his face. Veronica nodded in response since she already knew that from talking with Leo as well. "Dick wouldn't say who had beaten him up and I guess he sounded pretty delusional too. Leo came looking for me to see if I knew what had happened and to try to figure out what Dick was talking about. I guess Dick kept saying something about it being all his fault that Cassidy had..." Logan paused and gave her a pained look. Veronica took a deep breath and nodded for him to continue. That was definitely not her favorite topic, but she was glad that they were opening up more with each other, even if it was difficult.

"Leo tracked me down at some dive bar and of course as soon as he saw me... well my hands... it was pretty obvious what had happened." Logan paused again and closed his eyes. Veronica reached up and ran her fingers tenderly across his cheek. He let out a shaky breath before he opened his eyes again. "He must have put the pieces together. He said something about there only being one woman that he could imagine me nearly killing a man over. I guess Dick never actually said your name in his delusional ramblings. Leo said he should probably arrest me for the assault or for using a fake ID, but instead he decided to give me advice. Honestly, I'd had several shots before he found me and I don't remember everything he said, but the gist of his message made it through to me at least. He'd told me I could either continue on the fucked up path I was headed down, or decide to make a change. To do something to help people instead and to become someone you'd be proud of."

Veronica gave him a loving smile before she leaned up to kiss him. "I _am_ proud of you Logan," she said after their lips parted. "And I'm touched that I was part of the inspiration behind it."

Logan nodded and pressed his lips to hers again. "You've always inspired me to want to be a better man," he whispered after the kiss.

Veronica let out a contented sigh and rested her head against Logan's chest again. She was so filled with thoughts about how much Logan really did love her that she wasn't thinking about what had happened the night before. Logan placed a tender kiss on the top of her head before he started to caress her back again. Shortly after that, Veronica felt herself finally drifting peacefully off to sleep.


	37. Chapter 37

_**A/N – Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful 2016. I've absolutely enjoyed hearing from so many of you over the past year and hope you all continue to enjoy my stories too. Hopefully you'll all like this latest chapter. Please take a minute to leave me a quick note if you can. One thing I miss about being able to do more frequent updates is getting to hear from all of you more often. **_

_**Also, for any of you who haven't discovered it, I did post a one-shot Christmas LoVe story that you can find in my story list called 'Have Yourself a LoVely Little Christmas'.**_

_**Thanks again to my fabulous beta, Bondopoulos, who I couldn't do this without! She also co-wrote a fabulous Christmas LoVe story called Trading Spaces that's on AO3. Be sure to check that out too if you haven't yet. It's an amazing AU version of LoVe.**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Chapter 37

Veronica felt strong arms around her waist and a swaying sensation. Even with her eyes closed, she felt warm and safe. She took a deep breath, inhaling that scent that was very uniquely Logan. Right before she opened her eyes, she realized that she could hear music. It was a song she hadn't heard for quite a while, but every time she did it took her back to one specific moment in time. When she finally opened her eyes, she was shocked to actually find herself there again. She looked up at Logan, who instead of giving her the uneasy apprehensive look that he'd originally given her, was staring at her with love and tenderness.

"I've missed you," he whispered, just loud enough that she could hear him over the song that was playing. He was dressed exactly as he'd been then, with his olive green short-sleeve t-shirt over a lighter colored long-sleeve shirt. The first chorus of the song had just finished, and the lyrics that came next tore at her as she thought back to how things had been between them then.

_I look at you and see a friend… I hope that's what you wanna be… Are we back now where it all began? ...Have you finally forgiven me?_

Veronica's pulse quicken as she moved one of her hands from where they'd been positioned behind Logan's neck so that she could caress his cheek. He turned his head just enough to place a tender kiss against her palm, closing his eyes as his soft lips made contact with her hand.

"Why couldn't it have been like this the first time?" she asked as he turned so that he was looking into her eyes again.

"I think in both our hearts it was," he said softly as he reached up to touch her face as well. She always loved how tenderly he would stroke his fingers across her cheeks. Even if he had violent rage at times, whenever he touched her there was nothing but warmth. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again. She felt his warm lips press against her forehead and kiss her as the chorus of the song filled her mind again.

_I don't wanna hurt you… I don't wanna make you sway… Like I know, I've done before… I will not do it anymore… I've always been a dreamer… I've had my head among the clouds… Well now that I'm coming down… Won't you be my solid ground?_

When Veronica opened her eyes again, the light was much brighter than it had been only seconds before. The music was also gone, but she still felt a strong arm wrapped around her waist and the same swaying motion. Her dream about the Sadie Hawkins dance was over, and she realized it was the gentle rocking of the waves in the cove that was causing them to rock slightly. She twisted her head up so she could look at Logan. He had fallen asleep as well, and even with her moving a bit, he was still sleeping soundly. She couldn't help but wonder how much sleep he'd gotten the night before. She had a feeling he'd stayed awake worrying about her.

While she'd had her head resting on his chest, her body was actually on the bed next to him. Veronica slowly moved her hand from where it had been resting over his heart and moved it down his chest toward his stomach. He remained completely still other than his chest rising and falling as he slowly breathed in and out. She couldn't help but think back to all the other times that she'd awoken before him when they'd been together. She knew from experience that a sleepy Logan was always easily aroused. She slowly licked her lips and then pushed his shirt up slightly so she could run her fingers over his tan, toned abs. He let out a soft moan, but still didn't seem to be waking up at all. A devious grin spread across her face as she slowly shifted so she could place kisses on his now exposed stomach. She heard another soft moan, but the rest of his body remained motionless.

She bit on her lip for a moment, knowing he probably wouldn't approve of what she was thinking of doing, but she just wanted to be with him again so badly. She'd also warned him, whether or not he took her seriously, that she planned to have her way with him after lunch. After waiting so long to be with him again, the overwhelming desire coursing though her quickly pushed any rational thoughts out of her mind. She carefully started to unbutton his jeans and then unzipped them as well. She traced a line of kisses down from his navel to the top of his silk boxers. Even though his jeans were undone, she hadn't tried pulling them down because she was sure that would wake him up, and she wasn't quite ready for that yet. She glanced up to be sure he was still sleeping before she decided her next move would be to push his shirt up farther. She slowly retraced the path her lips had just taken, gently pushing his shirt even higher as she continued to kiss his body. She had been able to push his shirt up high enough that she was able to run her tongue over one of his nipples, eliciting another low moan from Logan.

She was caught slightly off guard when his arm that was still underneath her tightened a bit around her waist, and then he shifted them both so that she was on top of him. His other hand came up and gently landed on the back of her head, both arms pulling her up enough so he could capture her lips with his own. Even though his eyes were still closed, the kiss was intense and quickly took her breath away. Logan was breathing hard as well, and she took advantage of both of his hands sliding down to her thighs to lift herself up slightly and pull her shirt off over her head.

She could tell from watching his expression that he was starting to wake up more and was probably starting to realize what they were actually doing. Before he could say anything, she captured his mouth with her own and kissed him desperately. His hands slowly moved from her hips to caress her now exposed back.

"I thought…" he mumbled against her lips when she had finally stopped kissing him to catch her breath. "That we were going to wait… longer."

"Please don't make me wait anymore, Logan," she pleaded softly against his skin as her mouth moved from his lips to an ear. She ran her tongue teasingly around the shell of his ear before sucking and then biting slightly on his ear lobe. "I need this…" she whispered into his ear. "I need you."

She heard him let out a soft growl as one of his hands grasped the back of her head and turned her so he could kiss her lips again. After a few seconds of kissing, he effortlessly rolled them so that she was on her back, and he was above her. He paused and stared down at her, obviously much more awake now, and clearly very aroused.

"I've missed you," he said with exactly the same expression that he'd given her in the dream she'd just had.

"I love you so much," she replied as she reached up and stroked his cheek. And just like before in her dream, he turned his head so he could place a tender kiss on her palm. She sucked in a steadying breath, not wanting to get overly emotional, but feeling right on the edge again. "Please make love to me," she asked as he turned his face back toward her.

Veronica could tell that he was just as overwhelmed with emotions as she was. He swallowed hard and nodded before pressing his lips to hers again. After that moment, every movement… every kiss… every caress… seemed to be slow and deliberate… filled with so much reverence and adoration. He slowly helped remove the rest of her clothing, all the while placing warm tender kisses along every inch of her body. He of course was extremely careful of her injured arm, but luckily it wasn't too much of a hindrance for them. While a part of her wished they were going faster, she forced herself to slow down and enjoy the chance to explore his body again. She couldn't help but notice a few new scars that she knew he hadn't had before and wondered if they were work-related injuries. She placed soft kisses along them, saving her questions for another time.

By the time he'd finally grabbed a condom out of the nightstand drawer, she was more than ready to move on to that stage. He'd ended up sitting with his back against the headboard and pulled her onto his lap. She'd never had sex on a boat, and the rocking motion the waves provided made it even better than she could have ever imagined. Of course Logan was more than capable of pushing her to complete euphoria even on solid ground.

Being with him again combined with the swaying motion of the boat and the familiarity of his touch was intoxicating. Everything about it was perfect. He knew just what she liked, and it didn't take her long to climax. Logan's release followed immediately after hers. They were still sitting with his back against the headboard and her body pressed tightly against his when they were done.

Both of them were completely out of breath and she just couldn't help saying the first thing that popped into her mind when she could form some sort of cohesive thought again. "Woof," she said with the softest of laughs. Logan let out a surprised chuckle as well and tossed his head back so that it was rested against the headboard as he panted loudly. His hands had moved to a relaxed position on her thighs and he gently stroked her legs with his thumbs.

"_Woof_, yourself," he said as he stared at her with a look of amazement.

She couldn't quite believe the complete sense of bliss that she felt and laughed a bit more as she sat up higher on her knees so she could capture his lips with hers. Even though she should probably have been exhausted, being with him again was so exhilarating that she still felt invigorated. His hands went from being relaxed to grabbing her hips firmly as her breasts pressed into his chest. He laughed against her mouth a few seconds after they started kissing.

"I don't think even nineteen year-old Logan would have been ready for round two this fast," he said in a husky voice. "But, god do I wish I was," he added before placing another ravishing kiss on her lips.

She gave him a skeptical look, but decided that he probably did deserve a short reprieve before they started round two. "How about a swim instead?" she asked as she leaned a little bit away from him.

Logan's eyebrow quirked up in an all too familiar way and she could easily tell he was thinking of something salacious. The way his eyes slowly raked down and then back up her naked body before he spoke, didn't really help to hide what he was thinking either. "Skinny dipping?"

Veronica wasn't terribly surprised by the suggestion, and while she was feeling more confident in bed with him now that she was older, the thought of skinny dipping out in the ocean in the middle of the day where other people could see her was still a little terrifying. She tried not to let her reaction to his question express that though, but before she could even answer, his expression suddenly changed to be a bit uneasy.

"I was just teasing, Veronica," he said as the salacious grin was replaced by a hesitant smile. "A relaxing swim sounds great." He seemed to be searching her eyes as he spoke, and she wondered if he was worried he'd upset her with the suggestion.

"I _have_ been skinny dipping in the ocean before," she countered with her own suggestive smile.

She was surprised by the expression that spread over his face next. She had expected him to either challenge her about it, or get excited wanting to know more details. But instead, he looked almost embarrassed and quickly looked away from her for a second before regaining eye contact again. There was only one explanation for that reaction.

"You saw me?" she asked incredulously. He'd never mentioned that to her in the years since her impromptu swim right before their junior year homecoming dance. She'd noticed that he wasn't at the dance when they'd finally made it there, but had never asked him what he'd ended up doing that night.

Logan glanced away from her for a moment before looking at her again. His lips curled up into a chagrined smile as he nodded slowly. "Well, it was dark, so I didn't really _see_ you." Her puzzled expression must have made him feel like he should elaborate, because he continued after a moment's pause. "I was drowning my sorrows in a bottle of tequila a little farther up the beach up by the boulders. I'd parked up the beach at the public lot, and wandered for a while before settling there. I was surprised when I heard a car stop nearby and then even more surprised when you got out of the limo. It was too dark to make out much down by the water, but I could tell that you had undressed and then jumped in."

"Why didn't you ever say anything about it?" Veronica asked. Thinking back to how rocky things were between them at the start of their junior year, she was absolutely shocked that he hadn't tormented her with that at some point.

Logan shrugged for a moment and let out a soft sigh. "It was right after you'd helped me with the memorial video… so I guess I was feeling unusually sentimental or something. And then later… when we did get together… I guess I was worried you might get upset or be embarrassed if I mentioned it." She could certainly understand his uneasiness about bringing it up.

"Yeah, I guess I was feeling pretty sentimental that night too," she replied wistfully, thinking back to why she'd had the limo stop in the first place.

His expression softened a bit more as he reached up to stroke her cheek. "Lilly would have loved that you did that, of course."

Veronica inhaled slowly as she nodded in reply. He leaned toward her to place a tender kiss on her lips. "I um…" He glanced down between them. "I should go clean up a bit…" He gestured his head toward the bathroom door and she nodded in understanding. "But swimming does sound great."

Veronica nodded again and leaned toward him for another quick kiss before she slid off his lap. She couldn't help the appreciative smile that spread across her face as she watched him climb off the bed. He glanced over his shoulder and chuckled slightly at her.

"Are you ogling me?" he asked with a sly grin. She bit seductively on her lip and shook her head. He winked in reply and swayed his hips slightly, causing her to laugh before he disappeared into the bathroom.

As Veronica went to climb off the bed, she moved her left arm at an odd angle and instantly felt a wave of pain wash over her. She sucked in a sharp breath and held it until the pain started to subside a bit. She'd planned on putting on her bikini while Logan was in the bathroom, but hadn't really thought through all aspects of swimming with an injured arm. It wasn't like she could just stand in the water since they were much too far from the shore for it to be shallow enough. Logan had brought along the waterproof bandages for her, so keeping it dry wasn't a concern, but she knew she wasn't really going to be able to swim like this now.

She was still just standing naked next to the bed when Logan came out of the bathroom in a pair of swim trunks. "You okay?" he asked as he walked toward her and gently caressed her right arm.

Veronica shrugged in reply. "My arm's hurting a bit again."

"I've got a great floating lounge chair if you want to use that. You can still enjoy the water without actually having to swim," he said as he gave her an understanding smile. After a second though, he narrowed his eyes in a playful way and glanced down at his shorts and then back up at her. "I feel a bit overdressed now. Did you decide to take my skinny dipping suggestion seriously?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No… but I might need some help getting my top on."

"I'm not sure if I'm actually skilled enough to put one _on_… I'm more the expert _remover_, you know," he replied flirtatiously.

"I do know that," she purred as she walked closer to him and lifted up on her toes so their mouths were closer together. She gave him a little wink as she wrapped her right arm around his shoulder, causing her bare chest to press against his. "I'm sure you'll have lots of fun trying to figure out how to do it right, though."

"Mmmm…" he moaned softly as he quirked an eyebrow and then brushed his lips gently against hers. "I always did love a challenge."

"That's the spirit," she replied softly right before he kissed her. He reached down and lifted her up by her hips so it was easier for them to kiss. There was a small dresser in the room, and he spun them so that he could set her on it as they continued to kiss.

"Swimming?" she asked a bit breathlessly when their mouths finally separated again.

"Right… sorry… for some inexplicable reason I'm finding it really difficult to focus at the moment," he answered before reaching up and brushing his thumb over one of her nipples. She let out a shaky breath and then a small moan. Now she was certainly having a tough time focusing too. He used his other hand to shift her slightly on the dresser so that he could press his hips closer to her. "I think I'm actually ready for round two if you are," he whispered into her ear, his voice dripping with desire and lust.

"I'm pretty sure the ocean will still be there later," Veronica replied as she started to push his swim trunks off his hips, appreciating his firm muscles as her hands shoved the fabric out of the way.

While the first time had been slow and tender, the second time was a bit more passionate and heated. Even though at times Logan seemed to be completely overcome by his desire for her, she noticed that he was still being mindful of her injury, moving her into positions that wouldn't risk her being in more pain. The second time seemed to exhaust them both much more than the first time had, and when they were finished, they both ended up panting on their backs, staring up at the ceiling with blissful smiles on their lips. Logan reached down and grabbed her hand so he could pull it up to kiss the back of it.

"I'm going to need another nap soon if we keep going like this," Logan commented as he rested their joined hands on his chest.

"I'm going to need food soon if we keep going like this," Veronica copied back, earning a chuckle from him.

He lifted her hand to his lips again and placed another kiss there. "Then we should probably figure out our dinner plans," he suggested with an amused tone to his voice. "Dine on the boat, or go onto the island? Which would the lady prefer?"

"Any particular place on the island you'd like to go?" Veronica asked as she continued to stare up at the ceiling, still trying to completely catch her breath. When he didn't answer immediately, she turned onto her side so she could see him. He shrugged and shook his head, but she could easily see there was something he wasn't telling her. "Spill," she said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

He let out a deep breath before he shrugged again. "Ristorante Villa Portofino," Logan replied in a way that she thought he was expecting it to mean something to her, but it didn't. She gave him a slightly puzzled looked and waited for more, but he just stared back at her instead.

"Is that your favorite place to go in Avalon?" Veronica asked as she became a bit impatient with his lack of response.

Logan shook his head and reached up with his free had to brush some hair off her face. "Nope, I've never actually been there before." She was even more confused now by his behavior and gave him a more inquisitive look. "I did make reservations there once… about six years ago…" he continued a bit hesitantly.

It didn't take more than that brief explanation combined with his overall behavior for Veronica to know exactly what he was talking about. He'd made reservations there when she had stood him up for their trip to Catalina after she found out he'd had GHB at Shelly's party. She reached up and gently stroked his cheek. "And you never went there any other time you came to Catalina… with anyone else?" she asked, slightly amazed by that. She'd almost forgotten how sentimental he really could be sometimes.

He shook his head as the side of his mouth quirked up into a sad smile. "I just couldn't bring myself to go there… I know that probably sounds totally stupid… it's just a restaurant, but I don't know…"

"I think it sounds terribly romantic," she replied wistfully. "And I'd love to go there with you tonight."

His expression brightened a bit before he leaned toward her and kissed her firmly on the lips. "Shower with me?" he asked after the kiss as he looked lovingly into her eyes. She took a deep breath and nodded. This was the Logan she'd missed. The one who was sentimental and passionate. The one who seemed to never be able to get enough of her. And after missing him for all these years, she knew that feeling all too well herself. He leaned in and kissed her one more time before scooting off the bed and reaching his hand out for hers.

By the time they made it back to Avalon, it was already starting to get close to sunset. As expected, being wet and naked in the shower led to another round of getting reacquainted with each other again. They had never been very good about just showering without it leading to something else. There was just something about the hot water and steam that always resulted in more than just getting clean.

Logan wrapped his arm protectively around her as they left the dock and headed toward the restaurant. She'd caught him looking at her with the same slightly concerned look from earlier after they had showered and were getting ready to go to dinner, but he hadn't said anything and she hadn't pushed him about it. She just wanted to enjoy being with him for the rest of the night and didn't want to think about anything else. She wrapped her arm around his waist, and glanced up at him, earning her a soft kiss on her forehead. It was a pleasantly warm evening, and even though the restaurant was a bit farther than the one she'd visited for her case, it didn't take them too long to arrive.

Logan had called ahead and made a reservation at the restaurant, so they were promptly seated at a cozy table for two in a back corner. It was a very romantic setting with soft candlelight flickering from the candle in the center of the table. The overall ambiance of the restaurant was definitely romantic as well. Their chairs were close enough that Logan could still easily wrap his arm around her shoulders and lean in to place tender kisses on her temple and cheek. After Logan requested a bottle of wine for them to drink, they started looking over the menu. Veronica's mouth started to water as she read the descriptions for the various Italian dishes that they offered. She hadn't realized how famished she actually was until all the delicious options were right in front of her.

Logan must have noticed and leaned in closer to her. "I'm almost jealous at the way you're lusting over the menu," he whispered softly in her ear with just a hint of amusement in his tone. "If I'm not mistaken, I think it's actually the same look you had in your eyes when you ogled my naked body earlier today."

Veronica laughed softly and turned so that she could press her lips quickly to his. "What can I say? I know a delicious dish when I see one," she replied playfully after the kiss. She loved the way his lips curved up into a thoroughly pleased smile.

Logan shifted his head so that he could whisper in her ear again. His lips gently grazed her cheek as he moved. "Well for me there's absolutely nothing on earth more delicious than you," he whispered lustily before placing a slow heated kiss on her neck right below her ear. She let out a slow shaky breath, starting to wish they'd chosen to just eat on the boat so she could have her way with him at that moment rather than having to wait until later. Logan chuckled softly at her physical reaction and then placed a more tender kiss on her temple before turning his attention back to his menu.

The dinner was even more delicious than Veronica had expected. She'd really agonized over which dish to choose, but since she hadn't had gnocchi in a very long time, settled on that with gorgonzola sauce. Logan had suggested the Carciofi Ripieni for an appetizer and the instant Veronica tasted the savory artichoke dish, she was so glad he had. Logan had opted for the lamb dish for his main course and, just like so many times in the past, he'd graciously shared at least a fourth of his meal with her without a single complaint.

"Dessert?" Logan asked as she finished off the last bite of her gnocchi. She tried to pretend to have to actually think over the question before answering, which earned a soft chuckle and headshake from him. "It was rhetorical, Veronica," he teased before leaning in to place a quick kiss on her lips.

Choosing which dessert she wanted proved almost as challenging as deciding on her main course, but she finally settled on something. Logan gave her a devious grin after he took a bite of the amaretto torte with raspberry sauce that he'd selected for his dessert.

"I may have to rethink that comment I made earlier about the most delicious thing on earth," he commented thoughtfully. Veronica gave him a less than pleased expression before he leaned in and captured her lips for a sensuous kiss. "Nope… still you," he playfully amended.

Veronica slowly licked her lips after the kiss and waggled her eyebrows at him. "You taste pretty delectable yourself."

Logan laughed before placing another quick kiss on her lips. "That's just the raspberry sauce, my dear," he replied with a twinkle in his eye that she loved seeing there again. It struck her for the first time, that whatever that look was, it had been absent since she'd been back. Even when he'd been with Bex around her, that special way his eyes would light up in the past when he looked at her was never there. Veronica realized that it was a bit egotistical to think that she was the only one who could make him look like that, but still couldn't help considering it. She wondered if that's what she'd been waiting for… searching for, ever since he barged into her room at the hospital and declared that he was still madly in love with her. _That magical connection that we used to have… that I longed to get back with every fiber of my being… whether I ever consciously realized it or not._ After leaving the hospital though, all she kept seeing was his worry and concern for her, rather than this… whatever _this_ was. But it was theirs. It always had been and always would be.

"I love you," Veronica said lovingly as she reached up to touch his cheek.

He seemed a bit thrown by her sudden change in demeanor, but still looked at her with the same intensity that had been there a moment before. "I love you too," he said before placing another lingering kiss on her lips.

After they finished their desserts, they slowly made their way back toward the dock. It was starting to get a little chilly, so Logan kept her close to his side as they walked and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Even though there were lots of other people out enjoying the island, they were still able to feel like they were in their own little private world. Veronica stopped for a moment to enjoy the serene view of the harbor at night, which was lit up by the moon as well as sparkling lights from the boats in the water. She leaned against a railing while Logan stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, placing a few kisses on her head as they stood there together just enjoying the peacefulness. Veronica had heard Logan's cell phone vibrate a few times throughout the evening, and even when he did glance at it, he hadn't said anything about the messages. As they were standing there enjoying the view, she heard it go off again.

"You can get that if you need to," Veronica commented as she turned in his arms so she could see him. She was wondering if he had glanced at some of the earlier ones and decided not to tell her what they were about.

Logan let out a soft sigh as he studied her carefully. "I wanted you to have a nice evening," he replied as he reached up and brushed some hair off of her forehead.

"I am having a nice evening," she replied and then felt a tightening in her chest. "Is there an update on Doug… did things…" she paused and sucked in a sharp breath.

"No," Logan replied quickly as he shook his head and moved his hand so he could more firmly cup the side of her head. "Leo sent a quick message earlier that Doug was still in the ICU and there hadn't been any change in his condition yet. They're even more optimistic now that he'll pull through."

"Okay," she replied a bit hesitantly. "Then what _is_ going on?"

"You must know how worried everyone is about you, right?" he asked as he gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. "And since you haven't turned your phone back on, they keep messaging me."

"_They_?" Veronica asked, wondering who other than Mac might be checking on her through him. Although she could imagine that Brandon and Norris might also be trying to check on her through Logan.

"Norris… Mac… Wallace… your Dad…" Logan rattled off.

"Wait…" She knew Mac had texted him the night before and wasn't surprised she'd text Logan again and Norris made sense too, but she wasn't expecting her dad or Wallace to have Logan's number. "They've _all_ been texting _you_?" Logan nodded in reply. The questioning look she gave him must have been enough for him to know that he needed to elaborate.

"Leo gave your dad my number when he couldn't reach you, and Mac gave my number to Wallace. They're all just worried about you."

Veronica let out a huff of frustration. "I'm fine, and I sent them all texts letting them know as much. I'm sorry they've all been bothering you. They really shouldn't be doing that."

Logan gave her a compassionate look. "Think about it from your dad's perspective though. You were shot, Veronica. I'm sure your dad just wants to hear your voice. I know I'm not Heather's real father, but if she was in a potentially life threatening situation, I'd damn well want to hear her voice to know that she really was okay."

Veronica sighed and felt some of her frustration fade away, but she still wasn't ready to deal with all of that yet. "I'll call him tomorrow," she replied as she turned to start walking toward the dock again. She didn't get more than a step or two, before Logan grabbed her hand, causing her to stop and turn back toward him. She could instantly see the same worried expression that he'd had the night before. "I'm fine, Logan. I just want to enjoy the rest of the night with you." She held out her other hand toward him. "How about we send him a picture of us from your phone to help ease his mind?"

Logan quirked an eyebrow at her in a questioning manner, but then took his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the camera. She took the phone from him and leaned against his side. "Smile," she said before making sure her own smile would exude. "There," she said after taking the picture and handing it back to him. "You can text him back and let him know I'm perfectly fine."

Logan glanced down at the photo for a moment, with a troubled look still on his face. "Almost feels a bit 'proof-of-life'-ish, doesn't it?" Veronica scoffed softly and shook her head. Logan let out a soft sigh, likely still a bit frustrated with her, but started sending the message to her dad.

"I promise I'll call him in the morning," she said reassuringly as he finished up the text message. _Time for a new distraction._ She gave him a flirty smile, hoping she would be able to ease his mind. "I know skinny dipping wasn't going to work out with my arm, but I'm sure we can think of some other fun activity that doesn't require clothes after we get back to the cove," she suggested seductively.

He gave her a placating smile and nodded, although she could tell that he was still worried. She tugged a bit on his arm and gestured with her head toward the dock. "Come on, sans clothing fun only begins after we're back on the yacht."

He nodded again and started walking with her this time. She really hoped that was the end of this conversation and that he wouldn't bring it up again once they were back on the yacht. She was sure she'd feel more like talking to other people after a good night's rest, but right now, that really was the last thing she wanted to do.

Logan took them to a different cove for the night, rather than going all the way back to Goat Harbor. It was closer to Avalon, and she noticed there were some lights on the shore after they were anchored. Logan saw her staring at them and explained that the Catalina Island Marine Institute was located there. It was a different cove than where they'd spent the afternoon when he was diving for Benjamin's case, but she didn't think it was too far from that location. After the boat was anchored, Logan took her hand and started to lead her back into the cabin but she stood still, causing him to turn back toward her.

"I thought you said you loved sleeping out on the deck at night listening to the waves and watching the stars," she said as she gave him a sensuous smile. "We could do that…" she was about to say, _like_ _you and Bex_, but stopped short of saying that much.

He gave her a tender smile and took a step closer so he could wrap his arms around her waist. "It can get a bit cold… it's okay if we just go inside."

She suddenly felt a bit slighted and jealous that he would have done that with Bex and not her. It was probably just from being on an emotional roller coaster for the past twenty-four hours, but his comment pushed her right into irrational territory again. "So you would do that with Bex, but not me?" she found herself saying in an angry hurt tone before she even realized what words were leaving her lips.

"Whoa, no… wait… where did that come from?" he asked with a look of utter confusion on his face.

"You told me…" she started to explain, frustrated with both herself for getting mad about it and him for not wanting to do that with her.

"No… I never…" he took a deep breath and shook his head slightly, tightening his hold around her slightly. "I may have said I liked doing that… but it was always just me… Bex would never have slept outside," he explained, obviously trying to remember when they'd even had that conversation.

Veronica closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _And there I go jumping to conclusions and attacking him all over again_. She felt frustrated tears start to roll down her cheek, which only made her more angry at herself.

"Hey, it's okay, Veronica," Logan reassured her as he reached up to wipe away her tears. "I'm sorry," he said as he leaned in and kissed her forehead.

Veronica huffed slightly and shook her head. "No, _you_ don't have to apologize… _I'm_ the one… I _keep_ doing this to you… I'm so sorry, Logan."

Logan wrapped his other arm around her again and pulled her against his chest. She inhaled shakily, feeling terrible that she'd already broken the promise she made earlier that afternoon. "It's okay… I know it's tough to change old habits," he said as he nuzzled his nose against the top of her head and placed a kiss there. "I really do want you to feel like you can talk to me though… ask me anything… instead of jumping to conclusions and getting upset."

She nodded against his chest and took a calmer, deeper breath. "I will… I'll at least really try to."

He kissed her on the top of the head one more time and then took a small step away from her. "Wait here," he said with a tender smile and a small wink, before he turned and went back into the cabin. He returned a minute or two later with a large pillow and a heavy blanket. "Problem solved," he said with a sly smile as he took her hand and led her over toward a large lounge chair. He'd turned off the lights in the cabin when he'd come back out, but there was enough light from the moon to still see their way around the deck.

He took a seat on the lounge chair and then reached out his hand for hers. She was glad that there didn't seem to be any frustration in his expression as he looked at her. She certainly wouldn't have blamed him if he had felt that way after her reaction. She snuggled up next to him and wrapped an arm around his waist as he covered them with the blanket. Being away from the city, it was amazing how bright the stars looked and how many they could see. And Logan had been right, the gentle rocking and soothing sounds of the waves against the boat quickly melted away the frustration that had been there moments before.

"It really is beautiful out here," Veronica said softly as she gazed up at the stars. She felt Logan place a kiss on the top of her head before he replied.

"Yeah, and so much better sharing it with you," Logan replied in a hushed tone. "You have no idea how many times you would pop into my thoughts when I was all alone just listening to the waves and watching the stars. I know we never went out sailing before, but I never forgot all the times we'd sneak down to the beach behind your apartment with a blanket and lie in the sand watching the stars when we were dating."

Veronica let out a soft chuckle. "I seem to remember a lot more than just star gazing down on that beach."

"Mm hmm," Logan replied and she could easily hear the appreciation in just those two small sounds. "I never forgot any of that either."

She turned her head so she could see his face and saw the lust that was building up in his eyes again thinking back to their late night _star-gazing_ sessions. "Maybe we should make some new memories under the stars," she suggested sensuously. Logan reached up to gently stroke her cheek, and she could see that spark from dinner in his eyes again. He nodded slowly before leaning forward to capture her lips in a passionate kiss.


	38. Chapter 38

_**A/N – Sorry this is a bit more delayed than I have been before. At least there have been lots of other LoVe stories being shared this month and this is a fairly long chapter too. I'm hoping to wrap this story up with the next chapter, so we're almost done. I'm so grateful to everyone who has stuck around to finish this one off. I know it was quite a rollercoaster ride and at over 200K words it's turned out quite a bit longer than I ever expected as well. **_

_**I always love all the comments, so please take a second to leave me a review! **_

_**Also special thanks to Bondopoulos for always being such a fabulous beta and finding time to edit this for me!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Veronica wasn't sure if there actually had been a loud bang or if she only dreamt it, but either way, she jolted awake with her heart racing and every muscle in her body tense. She could still picture the blood that had been all over her hands and the screams of agony that were echoing in her ears as she struggled to take in her surroundings. Despite taking big gasping breaths of air, her lungs burned as if they were desperate for oxygen.

Logan sat up next to her and wrapped an arm around her. "Hey, you're okay," he mumbled sleepily as he pulled her protectively toward his chest. "It was just a bad dream."

"What?" she asked in confusion. The blood and screams seemed so real that she felt completely disoriented. She couldn't distinguish what had actually happened versus what was just a dream.

"You screamed in your sleep right before you jerked awake," he explained quietly as he rubbed soothing circles on her back.

She let her body relax as she collapsed against him, fighting back tears that started stinging her eyes. Logan placed a slow kiss on the top of her head and held her a bit more tightly. Veronica was trying to focus on the sound of Logan's steady breathing in an effort to calm herself down when a loud crashing sound startled her, causing her to jolt against him.

"Shhhh..." Logan whispered as he carefully moved one hand up to cradle the back of her head. "That was just a big wave hitting the side of the boat. Let's go inside where it will be quieter."

Veronica had actually forgotten that they fell asleep out on the deck of the yacht and was so overwhelmed by her nightmare that she hadn't even registered where she was when she woke up. Logan effortlessly lifted her in his arms as he stood up from the lounge chair, somehow managing to keep her mostly wrapped up in the blanket that they had been using. She felt the cold breeze blow across her back where it was partially exposed since they'd fallen asleep naked. She tried to focus her thoughts on what they were doing before they'd fallen asleep to chase away the memories that had been haunting her dreams.

Logan gingerly sat her down on the bed and stood beside it, watching her, concern evident on his face. Even though it was still the middle of the night, he'd left a small lamp in the bedroom on and it was casting a soft glow around the room. "Do you need some water or another pain pill?" he asked as he reached down and stroked her hair gently with his fingertips.

By that point she was having a hard time focusing on much other than the sight of him standing there in front of her in all his manly glory. If ever there was a good distraction from her problems, a naked and attentive Logan definitely fit the bill. She shook her head as she reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him toward her. "No, just you," she said softly as she continued to pull on him until he carefully climbed on the bed next to her.

Once he was on the bed he rolled onto his back before he spoke again. "I had nightmares too," he said quietly while she curled up against him with her head resting on his chest. She started caressing his bare torso as he continued talking. "They stopped being as frequent after a while, and now I only have them on rare occasions."

"Anything specific that helped you?" Veronica asked, shifting up on her elbows so she could see his face. She could think of one activity they could do together that would, at least temporarily, help erase her mind of all those bad thoughts.

She wondered if he could tell what she was thinking by her expression, but instead of going down the path that she was thinking about, he continued on still remaining serious. "Ironically, getting back to work as soon as I could seemed to help. Working on other cases took my mind off of what had happened, and it always made me feel better when I was able to do something good."

Veronica let out a sigh. She could certainly relate to throwing yourself into work to avoid things you didn't want to deal with. "But what if Leo won't let me come back to work right away?" she asked, voicing a concern that had been nagging at her ever since the night before. Leo hadn't specifically said anything about when she could come back to work when she'd stopped in to give her statement. He had told her to call the station on Monday so they could set up an appointment with one of the psychologists that the department would refer her to, but hadn't given her any indication of when she'd be allowed to return to duty.

A surprised expression crossed Logan's face, which caused Veronica to look at him questioningly. His eyebrow quirked up a bit more before he started to talk again. "Seriously? You're _Veronica_ _Mars_... when has _anyone_ ever been able to stop you from doing what you wanted to do?"

Veronica furrowed her brows before she replied. Things had been so different in San Francisco, and she was suddenly realizing that was one of the things that she hadn't liked about her life there. She wasn't sure why she felt less confident when she had been there. Maybe she'd tried so hard to be someone different-someone new-that she'd let some of that confidence and determination slip away. Being back in Neptune... back with her friends and her dad... and Logan... she was definitely starting to remember how it had been before.

Logan beamed at her with a look of reverence as he reached up and gently touched her face. "I've never known anyone quite like you, Veronica. You've always been such an unstoppable force. I know that at times that trait may have caused just as much bad as good, but I eventually realized that loving you meant accepting that." He inhaled deeply before he continued. "And I'm so thankful for getting another chance to love you again." Veronica's expression soften slightly at his admission, but she still couldn't completely shake her worry about how long she may have to wait to go back to work. Logan gave her a reassuring look, perhaps sending her uneasiness. "I'm confident that if you feel like you want to jump back into work that you'll be able to." He narrowed his eyes slightly and changed his expression to look like he was about to share a huge secret with her. "Between you and me, Leo's a bit of a pushover, especially when it comes to feisty blondes who are also extremely brilliant and very persistent." Veronica laughed and rolled her eyes at him. "What?" Logan countered in disbelief. "You don't believe me?"

Veronica shrugged and looked at him a bit more seriously. "I haven't quite gotten that impression since I've been back. In fact, he seems to definitely favor you over me," she added, thinking back to Leo's warning when she first came back to be sure she didn't do anything to jeopardize Logan wanting to stay at the department.

Logan gave her a smirk as he chuckled softly. "Perhaps I picked up a thing or two from _you_ over the years." He waggled his eyebrows at her before he continued. "Or maybe Leo's a pushover for tall cocky brunettes too."

Veronica rolled her eyes again as she shook her head at him. "Or maybe he knows a good deputy when he sees one," Veronica countered.

Logan let out a loud scoff. "I'm much more of a pain in the ass, insubordinate, antagonistic deputy." Veronica gave him a questioning look, causing Logan to chuckle. "You have no idea how many times I've done the _opposite_ of what Leo has told me to do. Of course usually my way is the better choice, but I know it still annoys the hell out of him sometimes. I also find it amusing as hell when he thinks he'll keep me off a specific case because I can always find some angle to work on them if I want to."

"Like the McDade case?" Veronica asked as she thought back to her embezzlement case.

A sly grin formed across Logan's face before he answered. "Well, I didn't get injured on purpose just so I could work on it with you."

"Fortuitous coincidence?"

Logan's smile broadened as he nodded. "And I certainly can't complain. I've really enjoyed working with you."

Veronica gave him a salacious grin as she scooted up closer to his head so her lips could brush lightly against his. "You have, have you?" she asked as her hands gripped his shoulders and she pulled her hips on top of his.

"Mm hmm," he replied, his eyes darkening slightly as her warm flesh slid against his. They kissed for a minute before she felt a smile form on his lips, which broke the kiss. She pulled her head back and gave him a questioning look. "And I _love_ that I'm the one with official seniority now," he explained as he smirked at her.

"Hmm…. You really enjoy the thought of bossing me around, don't you?" Veronica asked, her eyes narrowing slightly into more of a lascivious expression. His grin became even more wolfish as he nodded in reply. She smirked at his reaction. "And you _actually_ think I would do what you tell me to do?" She patted his cheek playfully. "You're so _cute_."

"_Cute_?" he asked pretending to be affronted. "I'm not _cute_. Sexy, handsome, debonair… any of those would do."

"Delusional?" Veronica asked teasingly.

Logan narrowed his eyes slightly before he surprised her by swiftly rolling them over so she was pinned beneath him. She couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her lips before his mouth was pressing against hers. She blissfully enjoyed how he completely overwhelmed all of her senses and pushed all other thoughts out of her mind. She wished they could just stay on the yacht indefinitely... stay naked in bed indefinitely. There were so many years of being apart to make up for, and she wanted nothing more at that moment than to just ravage each other's bodies. It was easy to forget everything else when Logan touched her in that special way that only he seemed able to do which would drive her absolutely insane.

Veronica could smell coffee and bacon as she started to wake up. She stretched lazily in bed, savoring the aroma, but she missed having a warm taught body to snuggle up against. She was about to get out of bed to go see if Logan needed any help with breakfast when she heard footsteps approaching the door.

"Good morning, Bobcat," Logan greeted her cheerfully as he walked in carrying a tray with cups and plates on it. She noticed that he'd changed into a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt.

"Breakfast in bed?" she asked in surprise as she started to sit up, instinctively pulling the sheet up with her as she moved. He gave her a knowing smile as he grabbed the button down shirt he'd worn to dinner the night before and handed it to her. She slipped into it while he carefully climbed onto the bed with the breakfast tray, setting it up across her lap when she was done putting on the shirt.

"Mmm… bacon, scrambled eggs and toast. Quite the gourmet breakfast," she teased playfully.

Logan laughed and nodded. "Well it was going to be eggs over easy, but that didn't work out so well, so they became scrambled."

"Well, I'm sure they'll still be delicious," she commented as she leaned toward him and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks."

"I'm definitely looking forward to more cooking lessons," Logan said as he reached for one of the two coffee cups. "And after eating this, you probably will be too." He took a sip of his coffee as Veronica grabbed a piece of bacon.

"Mmm… well, the bacon is perfect," she mumbled as she finished chewing the bite she'd just taken.

"And we both know that the bacon is really the only important part to you," Logan replied with a smirk. Veronica chuckled and nodded.

"So…" Logan finally mumbled after they'd been eating for a few minutes. She could tell he seemed more hesitant than he had when he first came into the room. She also noticed that he'd only been poking at the food on his own plate and hadn't really eaten much yet. "Shall we head back to Neptune after breakfast?" he asked almost reluctantly.

Veronica set her fork down and gave him a less-than-pleased look. "Ready to get rid of me already?" she asked with a bit of annoyance in her tone.

"No, you know that's not it," he quickly replied. She gave him a skeptical look as she waited for him to explain. "I thought maybe you'd want to go back so you can see your dad. I know he's still anxiously waiting to hear from you. He's already sent me two texts this morning."

Veronica let out a frustrated sigh. "How about I just call him and we stay out here. We could go back to the island and do some sightseeing. You don't have to be to work until tomorrow afternoon, right?"

Logan nodded in reply, but he still seemed hesitant regarding her suggestion. Veronica figured the sooner she got her dad off Logan's back, the better. She really did just want to spend the day with Logan, and heading back to reality in Neptune was the last thing she wanted to do.

"I'll call him as soon as we are finished with breakfast, okay?" she offered with a placating smile. Logan nodded again as he started poking at his food with his fork again.

"I'm sure he's not thrilled that you ran off with me," Logan mumbled as he looked down at the plate, avoiding her gaze.

"Hey," Veronica said as she reached up to cup the side of his face and turned his head toward her. "I'm not a kid anymore, and as much as he may not like it, he doesn't get to dictate who I spend time with." She gave him a softer look before she continued. "Or who I love," she added tenderly. Logan took a deep breath and she could tell how much what she said had meant to him. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.

"I love you too," he said softly as the kiss ended and he started to pull his head away from hers.

Veronica reached up to stroke his cheek and gave him a tender smile. "And honestly, he knows you're not the same guy you used to be. He actually told me that." Veronica could tell Logan seemed a bit surprised by that revelation. "I think he also expected this to happen eventually, so I'm pretty sure he isn't terribly surprised that I'm with you again."

"Really?" Logan asked with a tone of disbelief. Veronica nodded in reply. "Good… I…" Logan paused for a moment. Veronica could tell he was feeling a bit uncomfortable about what he wanted to say, so she tried to look at him as compassionately as possible. "I knew it probably wasn't… but couldn't help this small part of me worrying that I was one of the reasons why you might be avoiding him."

Veronica let out a quiet somber chuckle. _Way to make Logan worry unnecessarily._ "Nope… it's um… it's all me not wanting to deal with what happened," she admitted reluctantly. She really hated to admit it out loud even though she knew very well that's what she was doing, but she didn't want Logan to doubt her feelings for him either.

Logan reached up and took her hand in his, turning it so he could gently kiss her palm. "I know that avoidance can be easier, but usually the only way to move past something is to deal with it. Otherwise, whatever it is just continues to fester and only gets worse over time." Veronica gave him an understanding smile and nodded. "That doesn't mean that it's always easy, though," he added sympathetically.

"So… one more day on the high seas with my handsomely rogue sea captain?" Veronica asked with a playful lilt to her tone hoping to move them past the seriousness. Logan laughed and nodded his head. _Even if he may not completely agree with my current desire to avoid the issues, at least he loves me enough to go along with it_.

"But you're still going to call him, right? After his last message, I'm beginning to worry that he might talk the coast guard into tracking us down," Logan commented as he released her hand and she reached for another piece of bacon. She gave him a questioning glance as she bit into it, wondering what on earth her dad had sent him. Seeing her expression, Logan continued to explain. "He asked what time we'd be back today so he could meet us at the marina… I'm guessing it's not much longer until he decides to just come out here and find you."

Veronica chuckled as she finished her current bite of bacon. "Fine… I'll call him."

"Perfect," Logan said almost giddily as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. She laughed and shook her head, but she took it from him. "Just press right there…" Logan explained as he pointed to the front of the phone. She laughed again at his eagerness to get this over with, but she did as he'd instructed.

"Hey, Dad," Veronica said after a slightly hesitant 'hello' from her father. She assumed he probably thought Logan was calling since it was his number instead of hers.

"Veronica." She could easily sense his relief in finally hearing her voice over the phone and felt a bit guilty that she hadn't called him until now. She bit on her lip slightly while she waited for him to continue. "God, it's good to hear your voice, honey. I know you said you were fine in your texts, but sometimes a father needs a bit more reassurance."

"I know," Veronica replied a bit regrettably. "I should have called you sooner."

"It's fine, honey," Keith answered, keeping his voice as calm and understanding as possible. She could still pick up the worry in his tone, though. She appreciated that he wasn't trying to make her feel worse about the situation even if it had really upset him that she hadn't called him until now. "Are you coming home today? We're having our usual Sunday dinner at Alicia's, and we'd all really like for you to be there."

Veronica glanced at Logan, who she knew was sitting close enough to hear her dad as well as her. "I was planning to spend the day with Logan on Catalina. He doesn't have to work again until tomorrow afternoon."

"You could bring him to dinner too," Keith suggested. "There's always plenty of food and we'd love to have him join us."

Veronica saw Logan's face light up momentarily at the invitation, although he quickly shifted back to a neutral expression, likely not wanting to influence her decision. Based on his earlier comment about how her dad would feel about the two of them being back together, she knew how big of a deal it was that Keith wanted Logan to join them as well. Obviously even though she hadn't talked with her dad about Logan yet, the fact that she'd taken off for Catalina with him was all Keith probably needed to know to figure out that the two of them were together again. Veronica quirked an eyebrow at Logan, silently asking if he wanted to go, while making sure her own expression wouldn't reflect any hesitation. He smiled slightly and shrugged, clearly wanting her to be the one to decide because he certainly didn't seem opposed to the idea. "Sure… we'll be there," Veronica answered causing Logan to smile even more.

"Great, sweetheart. We'll see you tonight. We were planning to eat at six, unless that time won't work for you. I'm sure Alicia could adjust if needed."

"No, I think six will be fine. See you then."

"Love you, honey," Keith said before she returned the sentiment and they ended the call.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Veronica asked as she handed the phone back to Logan. "Because I'm sure I could call back and cancel."

"Are you kidding? Being invited to dinner by your dad? Of course I'm okay with it," he replied, almost beaming. "We could still spend some time sightseeing this morning on Catalina if you'd like, grab some lunch and then head back to Neptune in time for dinner."

"Hmm… the _lunch_ part sounds good… but if our time being alone out here is limited, I think the only _sightseeing_ I'm interested in involves seeing you… naked… in this bedroom… or other locations on the yacht would work as well… I'm not set on it being this specific room," she replied with a leering grin.

Logan chuckled as he carefully pulled her onto his lap, barely avoiding knocking over the breakfast tray. "Who am I to deny the mighty Veronica Mars what she wants." His eyes had grown darker and she could feel him starting to get aroused as his hands ran up her bare thighs, landing firmly on her naked ass under his dress shirt that she'd slipped on.

"Exactly," she agreed with a mischievous grin before reaching down to the edge of his t-shirt and tugging it up and over his head. She rocked against him, causing her foot to bump into the breakfast tray and some of the utensils to clank against the plates.

"I'd better move that someplace safer… we really don't want to spill coffee and eggs all over the bed, especially if we'll be spending a _lengthy_ amount of time here," Logan suggested. Veronica sighed as she thought about her favorite _lengthy_ thing and what she'd like to do with it. She then leaned up and placed a deep kiss on his lips before she shifted to the other side of him so he could reach the tray. He carefully placed it on the nightstand next to the bed and then pulled her back onto his lap. "Now where were we?" he asked as he waggled his eyebrows at her.

"You were about to meet my every demand," Veronica replied as she ran her hands slowly up his chest.

"I thought I was the one with seniority who got to be in charge?" Logan asked with a smirk.

"Nope, that only applies to actual work situations. In the bedroom, I'm the one in charge," Veronica countered, an authoritative gleam in her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am," Logan obediently replied. "Your wish is my command."

"That's more like it," Veronica purred as she moved one hand down to the edge of his sweatpants. "First thing… you've got way too many clothes on."

"I do, don't I?" Logan replied as he shifted so she could push his sweatpants down off his hips. He then wiggled them off his legs almost effortlessly.

"Much better," Veronica approved as she rubbed up against him. She moaned as his mouth landed hungrily on her neck and his hands went back to her hips. Things between them always seemed to escalate quickly because each action one of them would make would turn the other one on even more leading to even more stimulation and excitement. _To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction_. She already felt her breath quickening and her heart racing faster as she thought about what they were currently doing and what that would lead to in no time at all. It took only a few more seconds for him to push the button-up shirt she'd slipped on off her shoulders and for his mouth to move from her neck to her chest and then one breast. She couldn't help rocking faster against him, which meant more moaning from both of them, which got them both even more aroused than they already were_. I've missed this so much… everything he does to me… this time I swear I'm never letting this go_.

After leisurely enjoying each other's company for the rest of the morning, they'd pulled up anchor and gone to Avalon for lunch. They were headed back to the yacht when Logan's cell phone rang and he quietly said 'Leo', before he answered it. With all the other tourists walking and talking along the boardwalk, it was impossible for Veronica to hear Leo's side of the conversation, but a 'that's great news' from Logan had her hoping it was about Doug.

"Leo said that Doug is doing much better and they've upgraded his condition today," Logan shared after he ended the call, drawing a relieved breath from Veronica. "He's even conscious now."

"Can he have visitors yet?" Veronica asked, wondering if Leo had mentioned that as well. Not only was she anxious to see that he was doing better for herself, she could imagine that Logan would also like to visit him.

Logan nodded with a grim smile. "For very short periods right now, but they are letting him see people."

They continued walking back to the dock, discussing their plan for the rest of the day. Instead of anchoring off the island until they needed to head back to Neptune for dinner as they'd originally planned, they decided to go straight back so they could stop by the hospital to see Doug. As they piloted toward Neptune, Veronica felt some anxiety start to build inside her but tried not to let Logan notice. He'd seemed so much more at ease after she'd talked with her dad that she didn't want him to start worrying again.

It didn't take them too long to moor the boat and collect their things to take up to the Range Rover. As Logan wrapped an arm around Veronica's shoulder and placed a kiss on her temple while they walked to the car, she realized how quickly they seemed to be falling back into the same level of affection and intimacy that they'd had when they were together at Hearst. It was almost as if the last few years hadn't changed that familiarity and closeness that they used to share. She'd really missed it and was thankful that the hesitation he'd shown previously really must have been due to the situation and not at all based on the way he felt about her.

On the drive to the hospital, Veronica tried to distract her thoughts away from the incident that had caused Doug to be in the condition he was in. Initially she busied her mind by commenting on changes she noticed as they went along, but the closer they got to the hospital, the tenser she felt. As Logan found a parking spot in the underground garage, she was thankful for the darkness that enveloped them. She hoped it might cloak some of her anxiety until she was able to get a better hold on her emotions. _If Logan can't see my face very well, maybe he won't realize how I'm really feeling_.

"We could wait and see him tomorrow," Logan suggested compassionately as he turned off the car engine.

Veronica let out a loud sigh. _Obviously he's still more in tune with me than I'd thought._ He reached up and gently stroked her head. "How..." Veronica started to ask before he interjected.

"You became progressively quieter the closer we got to the hospital and started biting on your bottom lip before I took the exit off the highway," Logan gently explained as he reached down to squeeze her hand. "We could come over together tomorrow before my shift starts, if you'd rather."

Veronica shook her head and inhaled slowly. "No, we should go in and see him since we're here."

"Okay," Logan answered softly and then leaned forward to place a kiss on her forehead. "If you change your mind at any point though, it's fine to wait."

Veronica gave him a grim smile and nodded before they both climbed out of the car. Logan met her on the passenger side and extended his hand for her to take. She wanted more comfort than just feeling his hand in hers and skillfully maneuvered them so his arm ended up wrapped around her shoulders instead. He placed a slow tender kiss on the side of her head as they started walking toward the elevator.

Logan pressed the 'up' button and then wrapped his free arm around Veronica's waist and pulled her against his chest as they waited for the elevator to arrive. He started out just staring down at her with a compassionate smile, but then a little bit of heat snuck into his eyes, and she couldn't help leaning up and pressing their lips together. For the first time since they'd left the marina, she was finally starting to feel some of her anxiety slip away.

Veronica didn't hear the elevator door open, but she did hear someone clearing their throat, causing her to break the kiss with Logan and turn her head in that direction. Norris' amused grin was the first thing she spotted, followed next by what looked like a conflicted expression on Brandon's face.

"Hey there, you two," Norris said with a tone of amusement in his voice that matched his expression.

"Hey," Logan answered back, while Veronica just gave them both a slightly embarrassed grin and a quick head nod. "Were you two visiting Devlin?" Logan asked next and after quick confirming nods from both Norris and Brandon, he continued on. "We're on our way up there now. How's he doing?"

"He's still hooked up to a lot of machines, but he's doing as well as can be expected. His prognosis has definitely improved over early yesterday," Norris explained somberly, but then he gave Logan a mischievous grin before he continued. "I told him he'd better hurry up and get all healed so I don't have to be stuck with your sorry ass for a partner any longer than I have to. Being stuck with Logan Echolls indefinitely is a fate no deputy should have to endure."

As Norris glanced at Veronica he must have read the total confusion on her face, because his teasing smile quickly disappeared. "Fuck… Leo didn't talk to you yet."

"No," Veronica answered hesitantly as she shook her head. _Why would he put Logan and Norris back together indefinitely? _Only one thought crossed her mind. "Is he firing me?" Veronica asked incredulously.

"No, no, no," Norris answered and quickly shook his head. Brandon shook his head as well, but clearly at the fact that Norris had put his foot in his mouth rather than in answer to her question. "Fuck… I'm sorry… He um…" Norris let out a discouraged grunt before he continued. "He said he was going to have you work only detective type cases and not partner you up for patrol duty… at least for a while. He's not going to be able to bring in a replacement for Devlin, and he doesn't want any unpaired deputies going out for calls, so he thought, given your experience in San Francisco, that you could work ongoing cases versus taking disturbance calls. You wouldn't be working completely alone though, because depending on the case, there would likely be other deputies involved too."

"Oh," Veronica replied as she internalized that news. She was definitely relieved that Leo wasn't planning on terminating her. "Well… I guess that sounds good." She felt Logan's arm that was still around her shoulder squeeze her a little tighter. She glanced up at him and he gave her a reassuring smile and nodded. She thought back to his comment earlier that morning and could imagine which set of deputies she'd likely end up working the most with whether or not Leo whole-heartedly approved.

"That should fit better with your prior experience, right?" Brandon asked, obviously also trying to sound reassuring. Veronica glanced over at him and nodded as he gave her a compassionate smile in return. She was glad to see the initial look on his face when he first saw her kissing Logan was gone._ He's been such a great friend to me that I'd hate to completely lose that now._

"Well, we should let the two of you head up there. It was good to see you two. You look a lot better than the last time I saw you." Norris directed his last comment to Veronica as he gave her a warm smile.

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better too, thanks," Veronica replied before shooting a quick look up at Logan who beamed down at her.

"See you tomorrow," Norris said with a small nod at Logan before he and Brandon both said quick goodbyes and headed off toward their car.

Logan reached out and pressed the elevator button again since they'd missed getting on while they were talking to the other two. "You sure you're okay with the change in work assignment?" he asked as he watched her carefully. "I'm sure Leo had a much better plan for letting you know than Norris blurting it out like that."

The elevator door opened and they stepped inside as she nodded in reply. "Yeah… actually it does sound good. Not that I didn't enjoy chasing down naked elderly men," she commented with a sly wink. Logan pressed the button for the floor they needed to get off at and then turned back to look at her. "But working on more detective type cases sounds pretty good too." She paused for a moment before she continued with a more solemn look on her face. "But how do you think the rest of the department is going to react? How do _you_ feel about it? Honestly, you're just as good at solving cases, if not better, than I am. So why should I get the preferential treatment of being off patrol duty."

"It was one case, Veronica," Logan said as he gave her a slightly chastising look. "And I really don't think any of the other deputies are going to be upset about it. Those who had big dreams of detective jobs are the ones that didn't stick around long. The guys we have now aren't like that. And if any of them have a problem with it… well, you know who they'll have to answer to," he added with a dangerous look in his eye.

Veronica chuckled softly and shook her head at him. "Jackass Echolls?" she asked with a playful lilt to her voice.

Logan laughed and nodded in reply before leaning down to place a comforting kiss on her lips. "Exactly. And they all know better than to mess with _him_."

"Well I for one enjoy _messing_ with him," she replied back with a sultry tone. Logan chuckled and placed another quick kiss on her lips before the door opened on the next floor and more people walked in to join them.

Seeing Doug had been tough, and Logan could undoubtedly sense her uneasiness when they'd left his room. "Your place or mine?" he whispered softly into her ear as she rested her back against his front in the crowded elevator. She let out a shaky laugh, thankful for the proposition, whether or not he'd intended it to be more than a momentary distraction from her thoughts. She assumed by this time of day her dad would already be at Alicia's but didn't want to risk that he wasn't, so she promptly replied with a quiet 'definitely yours', which earned her a quick kiss on the side of her head.

She was thankful that Logan's place wasn't very far from the hospital and that he had been comforting but not overbearing on the drive there. She appreciated him knowing that sometimes she just needed time and a little space to deal with what was going on in her own head. Logan parked the Range Rover inside his garage and grabbed their bags from the back before they headed inside.

"About time you made it home, Freckles," Heather yelled from the kitchen as soon as the door from the garage swung open. "I swear I was going to lose my mind if I had to spend another night at Amanda's house. Her parents…" Heather's tirade was cut-off mid-sentence as she finally moved to where she could see that Logan wasn't alone. "Oh, sorry… I didn't realize you weren't alone. Hi, Veronica."

"Hi," Veronica replied with amusement. "I'm sorry I stole _Freckles_ for so long," she added with a smirk and patted Logan on the chest. "But here he is, back in his same pristine condition."

Heather scoffed and shook her head. "I'm not sure he's ever been _pristine_, but I'm glad you're both back."

"Hey," Logan protested defiantly.

"Oh, come on," Heather countered back. "Veronica grew up with you." Heather paused for a moment before she narrowed her eyes and continued. "She _dated_ you… I'm pretty sure she knows better than anyone how _un-pristine_ you are." Heather laughed and shook her head and then forged on again. "Even I knew how un-pristine you were the first time I met you when I was eleven and you told me to stay out of the porn."

Veronica raised her eyebrows and gave Logan a questioning look.

"Okay, okay," Logan said in a more pacifying tone. "I think you're telling that a _little_ out of context there, Button-Fly. It wasn't really as bad as that just sounded."

Heather gave him an incredulous look. "Did you… or did you not… hand me the TV remote and tell me to stay out of the porn?"

Logan let out a defeated sigh and looked down at the ground. "Well at least I warned you to stay away from it… that has to count for something, right?"

Veronica and Heather both laughed at him, and Veronica reached up and patted his cheek. "I'm sure you've done an exemplarily job since then," she added as she continued to pat his cheek.

"Yep… he keeps the porn locked up in his room now so he doesn't have to warn me to stay out of it," Heather replied with a devious smirk.

Veronica chuckled at the look of disbelief that crossed Logan's face. Heather laughed as well and shook her head. "Oh, come on, she knows I'm just teasing," Heather clarified. "You're the best legal guardian a girl could ask for," she added with a smug grin and an exaggerated tone.

"Don't you have some homework you should be doing?" Logan asked in what Veronica could only assume was his authoritative father-figure voice. But instead of coming across as serious and stern it only made both girls laugh at him again.

"No," Heather finally replied after she stopped laughing. "All caught up. But lucky for you, this was just a pit stop to change before I meet Colton for dinner and a movie. And I know… be home before ten since it's a school night." She paused and then changed her voice to match the tone Logan had tried using on her a moment before, "_And remind Colton if he even thinks impure thoughts about you, that I'll immediately know and justice will be dealt out swiftly and without regard for consequences_."

Veronica couldn't help but chuckle as Heather rolled her eyes at the affirming nod Logan shot at her. Heather let out a sigh and headed toward the foyer. "Colton is always a gentleman, Logan, and you know it. You've already scared him way too many times. It was nice seeing you again, Veronica. Don't have too much fun while I'm gone," she added before giving them both a little wave and headed out the door.

Logan looked up at the ceiling for a minute and took a steadying breath before looking back at Veronica. She really couldn't hide the amusement in her expression. "Shall we go work on getting even _less_ pristine up in your shower?" Veronica asked as she reached down and grabbed the waistband of his jeans and tugged him closer to her. "We still have a little time before we need to be at Alicia's and we should probably try to wash off some of the ocean scent before we go."

Logan nodded as a wolfish expression crossed his face. "Absolutely," he replied before he leaned in and kissed her passionately. He broke the kiss and then picked up their bags he'd sat on the floor when they started talking to Heather. "We may need to wash off a few other _scents_ too," he added salaciously. She couldn't help biting lightly on her lower lip as she nodded in agreement. There were certainly a few things she wanted to do with him before they climbed into the shower together.

She let him lead the way, enjoying the view in front of her. She couldn't help but let her mind wander back to all of the less than pristine things they'd done when they were dating in college. She'd certainly replayed many of them several times in her head over the past three years. Logan had barely even set the bags down on the floor inside his bedroom door before Veronica was pushing him toward the bed. She wasn't expecting to meet resistance, so when he stopped moving she gave him a surprised look.

"You have no idea how hard it was not to climb into the bathtub with you the other night," Logan explained as his fingers slipped under her shirt and lightly caressed her stomach. "Any chance you'd like to take a nice… long… hot… soak… before we go to dinner?"

_Apparently I wasn't the only one conjuring up a plan on our way up the stairs_. "Mm… that sounds dreamy," Veronica replied provocatively.

Logan carefully lifted her shirt up and over her head then dipped his head down to place kisses across her chest. She let out a blissful sigh as she tousled his hair with her fingers and he let out a long slow moan. "I'd better start the water before I get too carried away," he said as he looked hungrily up at her. She bit on her lower lip and nodded in reply. He slowly stood up and took her hand, leading her toward the bathroom.

As soon as the water was started, Logan went back to undressing her, placing lingering kisses along her skin. Veronica braced herself against the bathroom counter as his head moved lower and lower, sending exhilarating sensations through her entire body. Several of the fantasies she'd had about him over the last few years centered around the magical things he was able to do with his tongue, and reality was proving to be a thousand times better than she'd even remembered. She was thankful for the support of the counter as her legs started to tremble from the ministrations he was performing on her. He kissed his way back up her body until their mouths met again. After several minutes of deep, devouring kisses, he finally broke away enough to reach up and push her slightly tousled hair out of her face and looked intently into her eyes.

"I love you so much, Veronica," he whispered softly before pressing his lips against hers again.

"Love you too," she said breathlessly, her body still feeling the aftershocks of what he'd just done to her with his mouth and fingers. He chuckled softly, and carefully lifted her up and carried her over to place her into the bathtub. It only took him a few minutes to strip off his clothes and climb in with her. She'd shifted up on her knees while she watched him undress, and as he sat down, she moved so she could straddle his lap. He'd added bubbles to the water when he started it, and the soapiness made their bodies easily slide against each other. The hot water combined with his aroused hard body below her was almost more than she could take.

"I want you…" she mumbled as she shifted up so she could slide down on to him. Logan moaned as she did, and she could tell he was quickly getting lost in the moment too.

"Fuck… Veronica," Logan moaned out as his hands firmly gripped her hips. "We forgot…" he choked out as she continued to writhe on him.

"Shhh…" she whimpered back. She didn't want to stop because it just felt too good. They'd had a brief talk about protection earlier, and knowing he hadn't been with anyone when he wasn't using something, she didn't feel like she needed to worry about that. She was pretty sure the timing should be fine, although her brain was clearly passing the point of any rational thought. "Please… don't… stop," she groaned, quickening the pace and reaching down into the sudsy water to touch him too.

"Oh god," he choked out as his head started to fall back toward the edge of the tub and his fingers dug even deeper into her hips. She desperately cupped her hand around the back of his head and pulled it back toward her, pressing her mouth urgently into his. She could feel him gasping against her mouth as she continued to rise up and slide back down onto him. It didn't take much longer before they were both grunting and collapsing against each other.

"That was…" she started to mumble as her head rested against his shoulder and she felt him taking in deep breaths of air.

"Fucking amazing," Logan blurted out before they both laughed breathlessly and she nodded against his shoulder in agreement. Logan sunk lower into the tub, leaning back against the wall of it while his chest continued to rapidly rise and fall. She placed a sloppy kiss on his lips before readjusting herself so she could lean back against him and rest the back of her head on his chest.

"I think we got the smell of the ocean off of us," Veronica said with an amused laugh. She could feel his chest shake behind her as he chuckled at her comment. He placed a warm kiss on her shoulder and then slowly kissed up her neck toward her ear.

"So am I still not allowed to allude to having touched any part of your body that doesn't have fingers when we see your dad in an hour?" Logan asked in a husky voice as his hands slid down her body. She moaned from the unexpected sensation when his fingers reached their intended destination, cutting off the reprimand she had been about to give him. Instead of giving him a lecture about what he could or couldn't say, she surrendered completely to the pleasurable feelings that were coursing through her body as he worked magic with his very adept fingers.


	39. Chapter 39

_**A/N – I'm definitely worse at ending stories than beginning them, so hopefully this final chapter won't disappoint anyone. I really appreciate everyone who has read along and left comments over the last 14 months (just realized I published it on 1/29/15 and finishing it on 3/29/16.) I never expected a little idea I had to make Logan a deputy would end up being so long! As always I love all your comments, so please take a second to leave me a review! Even though it's over, I'd still love to know what you all thought of it.**_

_**Also special thanks to Bondopoulos for always being such a fabulous beta and finding time to edit this for me! She's just amazing and I appreciate how much time she's put into this story over the last 14 months as well!**_

_**Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.**_

Their extended time in the bathtub, followed by a not-as-quick-as-planned rinse off in the shower, almost made them late for dinner. Veronica had been amused by Logan's insistence that they shouldn't just show up empty handed, and even though she'd tried to convince him it would be fine, she finally caved and allowed him to grab a bottle of wine from his house to bring along. She spotted Wallace's car as she pointed to a spot along the curb for Logan to park and wondered if he may have brought Amira along since he'd brought her to the basketball game the other night. Veronica wasn't overly nervous about bringing Logan along, but figured some extra buffer might not be a bad thing either.

"Ready," Logan asked as he met her on the passenger side of the car with a broad grin and held out his hand that was not holding the wine bottle for her to take. She smiled and nodded as she linked her fingers with his. "This should be fun, Bobcat," Logan added slyly, causing her to shoulder check him. He chuckled and leaned down so he could place a quick kiss on the top of her head. They barely made it to the top of the steps when the door opened and her dad briskly flew out at them.

"You're here!" Keith announced loudly. Veronica was a bit surprised by his reaction and assumed Logan may have been as well since he practically froze in his tracks and dropped her hand. Keith seemed to be giving her a thorough visual inspection as he stood there looking her up and down.

"Yep, all in one piece as you can clearly see," Veronica said as she did a little spin in front of him on the porch. Keith took a deep breath and nodded, clearly relieved that he could finally see for himself that she was okay. Veronica stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck for a hug, being careful of her left arm. "I'm sorry you were worried about me, but I really am fine," she said as she hugged him. Keith placed a quick kiss on her temple before she released him and took a step back.

"Glad you could make it, Logan," Keith said with a friendly smile as he reached out his hand to shake Logan's.

"Thanks for inviting me, Mr. Mars," Logan replied as they were shaking. Veronica heard footsteps and turned to see Alicia coming out to join them. "And also thank you, Mrs. Fennel, for having me too."

"Alicia's fine, Logan, and the pleasure's all ours. Right _Keith_," Alicia replied as she shot a slightly scolding look at Keith. Keith only nodded in reply, which earned him a slightly sterner look from Alicia.

"I brought some wine for you," Logan added as he held the bottle he was carrying toward Alicia.

"Isn't that sweet," Alicia appreciatively commented as she took the wine. "Well come on in, we don't all need to be out on the porch. There are a few other people inside who are looking forward to seeing you too."

Alicia headed into the house first, followed by Keith who gave Veronica another relieved smile before he turned and walked through the doorway. Veronica reached out to take Logan's hand again before they walked inside together.

"V!" Wallace shouted as he lunged off the couch toward her. Veronica dropped Logan's hand again so she could carefully hug Wallace. She also immediately spotted a less-than-thrilled looking Amira sitting on the couch next to the spot Wallace had just vacated.

"Help me finish up dinner," Alicia instructed Keith as Wallace and Veronica started to break apart.

"It's good to see you really are okay," Wallace commented as he also carefully inspected Veronica from head to toe. _And they all wondered why I was avoiding them_.

"Yep, right as rain," Veronica replied with a placating smile. "Nice to see you again too, Amira," she added with a quick wave in Amira's direction. "You remember Logan, right?" Veronica asked as she reached for his hand once again.

"Yeah," Amira replied with a hesitant nod. "Go Pirates," she added sarcastically. Logan chuckled and nodded in reply.

Veronica heard the backdoor open and close, followed by quickly approaching paws and feet coming from the kitchen. Backup bounded toward her, wagging his tail and panting loudly.

"Veronica!" Darrell announced excitedly as he barreled into the room right behind Backup. "I heard you were shot! Did it hurt? Can I see the bullet hole?" he asked hurriedly with wide eyes.

"Darrell!" Wallace scolded quickly. "Not cool, dude. You don't just ask people that!"

Veronica chuckled as she scratched Backup behind the ears. "It's fine," she said as she glanced at Wallace before turning her attention back to Darrell. "I did get shot and yes it hurt a lot. But there isn't really a bullet hole, just a slight laceration on my arm that the doctor put a few stitches in. It's all bandaged up though, so nothing to really see."

Backup quickly moved on from Veronica to Logan, who dropped Veronica's hand once again and bent down to be closer to Backup.

"Hey, buddy," Logan softly said to the dog as he scratched his neck and back.

"Wanna play fetch with us?" Darrell asked as he turned his attention from Veronica to Logan. "I was throwing the ball for him in the yard but saw you guys come in."

Logan glanced up at Veronica with a questioning look on his face. She smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, why don't we both go out with you?" she suggested as Logan started to stand again.

"Wallace? Amira? You two want to join us?" Veronica asked as she looked at the other two. She could easily see Amira wasn't thrilled with the suggestion.

"I think we'll hang here," Wallace said quickly as he took his spot on the couch next to Amira again.

Veronica nodded in understanding, not at all surprised that Amira didn't seem interested in going out with them to play with Backup. "Come on, boy," Veronica said as she patted her hip, "You too, Backup," she teased as she furtively glanced at Logan. He shook his head slightly, but a smirk snuck across his face, clearly amused by her antics.

"Dinner will be ready in about fifteen more minutes," Alicia announced as they passed through the kitchen toward the back yard.

"Can I do anything to help?" Veronica asked as Darrell opened the door for Backup to go through first.

"No, we're fine. Thanks though. Your dad and I have it under control. You just go out and enjoy yourselves. If you two would like a drink, I could open the wine you brought, or you could grab a beer from the fridge. There's lemonade too, if you'd like something non-alcoholic," Alicia offered with a friendly smile.

Veronica glanced at Logan who gave her a quick head shake. "I'll just wait for dinner."

"Me, too," Veronica replied before following Darrell out the door, pulling Logan behind her.

Darrell grabbed a tennis ball from a basket on the shelf by the back door and offered it toward Logan and Veronica. "Go ahead," Veronica encouraged Logan with a slight tilt of her head. He gave her a warm smile before taking the ball and tossing it out into the grass for Backup to chase. Darrell wandered over to a rope swing hanging off the largest tree in the small backyard as Backup returned the ball to Logan and he tossed it again.

"We should bring Backup to my place sometime," Logan commented as he reached down and scratched the dog on the head before taking the ball and throwing it again. "Heather would love it. She's tried convincing me to get a dog several times over the last couple of years. I nearly caved a couple of times, but then I thought about how busy we both were and stuck to saying no."

Veronica knew how much Logan had always enjoyed playing with Backup when they were together before and, for whatever reason, Backup had always adored Logan too. She'd certainly missed having a dog around when she was in San Francisco and had justified not getting one with the same excuse Logan had just mentioned. "Yeah, I'm sure he'd love running around your big yard and out to the ocean," she replied with a fond smile.

"Good," Logan responded as he repeated another head scratch and ball toss. "Because I'm really hoping you staying at my place will become a regular thing and I wouldn't want you to feel like he couldn't join us," he added with an almost nervous look in his eyes.

Veronica ducked her head for a second before looking back up at him with a broad smile. _Like I want to be anywhere else but there with him. _"Well it would certainly be easier giving you cooking lessons if I was there all the time," she replied with a coy grin.

Logan nodded as a satisfied smile formed on his lips. He started to lean in, likely to kiss her by the look on his face, when the back door opened and her dad called out for Darrell to go in and wash up for dinner. Backup had returned with the ball again and nudged Logan's leg with his head when he didn't reach down to take it.

"He really seems to like you," Keith commented as he looked down at Backup who was quickly getting less patient with the lack of attention.

"He's always been an exceptional judge of character," Veronica quickly replied as she gave Logan a reassuring smile.

"Mm hmm," Keith responded with a sight chuckle before lowering his voice and continuing. "You should have seen him when poor Amira arrived with Wallace. We sent Darrell out to entertain him, as she clearly is not a dog person, and he must have been able to sense that."

"Yeah, I got the same feeling right before we came out here," Veronica commented quietly. Logan gave her a quick affirming smile as well.

"Wallace certainly seems smitten with her, though," Logan added thoughtfully.

"That he does," Keith replied in agreement. "If you think I've played the overprotective dad role in the past, that's nothing compared to Alicia. He must really like her to have brought her along for dinner tonight," he added even more hushed than before.

Veronica couldn't help but laugh thinking back to how Alicia treated her when she and Wallace had just become friends and Alicia had walked in on her flashing Wallace. Both Logan and Keith gave her a curious look at her reaction and she only shook her head in reply. "Well then we'd better get inside before we miss out on anything good, shouldn't we?" she suggested with a sly grin as both the men chuckled softly at her.

Veronica wasn't sure if Logan was intentionally trying to keep the focus off of both Veronica and Amira but from the moment they sat down for dinner he seemed to keep the conversation effortlessly on other topics. At first it was asking Darrell how he liked playing basketball, and then he moved on to asking Wallace about his job, followed by how her dad's cases were going. _I suppose he knows how awkward dinners with disapproving parents can be, but that has certainly changed for him and my dad. _Keith even mentioned a few cases he'd heard Logan had worked on since joining the department and seemed impressed with how Logan had solved them. The most surprising comment came from Keith after one of Logan's retelling of a particularly challenging case. Her dad actually admitted that he wished he'd had deputies like Logan when he was Sheriff. Veronica could tell how much it meant to Logan that Keith had said it, even if he tried to downplay it in the moment.

Veronica and Logan offered to help with the dishes after they'd all finished dessert, and even though Alicia declined the offer at first, she eventually gave in. Wallace and Amira seemed to make as quick of an exit as possible after a quick round of rushed goodbyes. After the dishes were done, Veronica said they should get going too, and they both thanked Alicia for having them over.

"So, heading back to my house?" Keith asked not so subtly as he followed them out to the front porch.

"Are _you_?" Veronica asked with a wicked grin.

Keith shook his head slightly with a chagrined look on his face. "Well, I'm glad you came tonight." He paused a moment before giving Logan a fond smile. "Both of you."

"Thanks again, Mr. Mars," Logan said as he offered his hand out to shake her dad's.

Keith inhaled for a second before he extended his hand to shake Logan's. "It's Keith," her dad said as he pulled his hand out of the hand shake and patted Logan on the back. "And you're welcome to join us anytime."

Veronica looked at her dad with a loving smile before he leaned closer to kiss her cheek. "Don't be a stranger," he told her softly as she turned to kiss him as well.

"I love you, Dad," she said with a content sigh after the kiss.

"Love you too," he said with a quick wink before turning and heading back into the house with a little wave.

"I think he likes me," Logan whispered playfully against her hair as he pulled her against his side to walk toward the car together.

She turned her face so she could look up at him. "What's not to like?" she asked as she beamed up at him. He chuckled softly and kissed her forehead tenderly as they continued walking to his car.

Veronica could tell there was something on Logan's mind on the way home from Alicia's, but she hadn't pushed to find out what it was. He'd asked if there was anyplace she needed to stop, like her dad's house or the station for her car or anywhere else for anything. Her mind was set on spending the rest of the evening with him, so she'd declined the offer to retrieve her car and told him she'd just get it from the sheriff's office the next day. She also still had plenty of clothes that she'd packed to take on the yacht, so didn't need to stop at her dad's house either. She couldn't imagine that her declining his offer to stop by either place being what was bothering him, but he hadn't mention anything else so she was slightly puzzled about his peculiar mood. By the time they made it back to his place, his demeanor made it even more obvious that there was something going on with him.

Once they were inside, she dragged him into the living room and gently shoved him down so he was sitting on the couch. She then took a seat across his lap and gave him an inquisitive look. "What's going through that brain of yours?" she asked as she watched him carefully. He shrugged and shook his head, making her even more suspicious. There was obviously something he was worried about that he didn't want to discuss. She narrowed her eyes before she continued. "You might as well spill buddy, you know I won't let you off the hook easily."

Logan blew out a strained breath as the hand not resting on her lap came up to run through his hair. "I just don't know how to say this... I'm pretty sure no matter what, I'll probably sound like I'm being an asshole," he reluctantly shared with her.

She could see the despair in his eyes, which started to really worry her. She couldn't imagine what was going through his head at all based on that comment. "I'm sure you won't," she said as she caressed his cheek, trying to sound reassuring even if she wasn't feeling so confident herself.

His expression became more concerned as he gazed intently into her eyes. "It's about what happened earlier... in the tub... You told me before that we needed to be careful about protection... and then... well, I've been through enough mandatory training courses to know the statistics of things like Plan B and the decreased effectiveness the longer you wait... You've just been through so much and I don't want you to carelessly do something you might regret later."

"Oh," Veronica replied, not having expected that at all. She suddenly couldn't help but be concerned about his motivation and realized she really needed to know how he felt about something like that accidently happening. "Would _you_ regret it?" she asked, feeling more vulnerable than she'd expected.

Veronica's hands were on her lap and Logan reached out to hold one, giving it a tender squeeze before bringing it up to his lips for a kiss. "Absolutely not," he said softly as he kept his eyes locked with hers. She let out the breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. She could easily hear the sincerity in his tone and tell that he meant it by the look in his eyes as well. "Years ago maybe I would have had some major reservations, but that was before I spent a lot of time with Ian when I was seeing his mom. And of course taking care of Heather the last couple of years. I know taking care of Ian and Heather isn't exactly the same as raising a baby, but it helped me realize it's something I could imagine myself doing. But I'm not in a huge rush, and if it's not something you ever want, I'm okay with that too. I just want it to be a decision you feel you had the power over making, though, and not just because we got carried away."

Veronica wasn't sure if he was going to keep going or not, but the moment he paused for a breath she leaned in and placed a tender kiss on his lips. She rested her forehead against his and watched as a smile slowly crept across his lips. "I used to think parenthood wasn't something I wanted, but I don't know... being gone and away from family and close friends, it made me long for those connections more than I ever imagined. And being with you at Alicia's tonight made me realize how important family really is to me..." She paused and took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves before she continued. "And that includes having a family with you... someday."

Logan pressed his lips against hers again and kissed her more soundly than moments before. "I love you, Veronica," he whispered after the kiss. "So very much."

"I love you too," she replied back blissfully. "And I really don't think we have anything to worry about from earlier. If I'm wrong, well then I guess we'll both be okay with that, although I don't think it will be an issue."

Logan gave her a tender smile and nodded. "I hope you know I just want you to be okay with whatever happens. You mean the world to me, Veronica. I stupidly tried to deny it for a while, but being with you really is the most important thing to me and together I'm sure we can tackle any challenges that come our way." His smile became a bit mischievous after a second, though. "Although I have a sneaking suspicion if you did get pregnant now, your dad may not continue to be as friendly as he was at dinner tonight."

She couldn't help the smirk that crossed her own face. "Yeah, I think you're probably right about that one." She paused as she smiled more fondly at him. "It was actually really great seeing how well the two of you did get along. It was easy to see how impressed he is with all the work you've done as a deputy." She watched as Logan's expression changed to be a combination of embarrassed and proud. "I told you before that you're a good deputy, Logan. Obviously he's heard your praises from other people too since there were quite a few of your cases that he'd heard about."

"I highly doubt it was all _praise_, but I appreciate him picking the more favorable stories to share tonight," Logan replied sounding a bit skeptical.

Veronica bumped her shoulder into his chest as she gave him a chastising look. "Come on, Logan. You're a good deputy. I don't understand why you are always trying to down play that. You deserve all the recognition that you get. I honestly never expected you to be a deputy when I came back to Neptune. I would never have imagined it, even in my wildest dreams. But Logan, you really are amazing at what you do. And you can try to joke about it and say that it was just luck or whatever, but I don't believe that. I am so proud of you… of everything you've done. I'm only sad that I wasn't here to see it all for myself."

Logan bit on his lower lip for a moment, and she wondered for a second if he was going to try to brush off the compliment with a joke or something. "You're here now," he replied instead, surprising her somewhat, his expression becoming a bit more serious than it had been a few seconds earlier. "Like I told you before, you're one of the reasons I did all of this. And honestly if you'd stayed, who knows what would have happened. But this is where we are now, and regardless of the roads that we each went down to get here, the only thing that really matters now is that we made it back to each other."

Veronica nodded in agreement and leaned in to kiss him again. "And I don't plan on that changing… ever," she admitted confidently. He took a deep breath before he pressed his lips to hers again and carefully shifted them so she was lying on her back and he was on top of her. Veronica was quickly consumed by the feel of Logan's perfect mouth against hers and she let her hands wander under his shirt thoroughly enjoying the warmth radiating off his muscular back. The only thing her mind could comprehend was how amazing it was to be with him, so she was completely startled by someone clearing their throat from the other side of the couch. For a split second she felt like she was back in high school, being caught by Logan's dad again.

"Looks like you two are having an enjoyable evening," Heather commented, sounding extremely amused.

Veronica could hear Logan make a slightly annoyed groan before he shifted off of her so he could sit up again. She followed his lead and sat up next to him as well.

"Well we _were_," Logan replied, using practically the same tone that Heather had used on him when Logan had interrupted her and Colton. Veronica bit her lower lip to keep from laughing at the two of them. Heather must have caught the parallel as well because she laughed as she went over and took a seat across from them on the other couch. Logan glanced down at his watch. "I thought you weren't coming home until ten?" he asked as he gave her a suspicious look.

"And miss catching the two of you making out on the couch?" Heather volleyed back with a smirk. "Where's the fun in that?"

Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly. Heather must have realized that Logan was still expecting a serious answer to his question. "Colton had some homework to finish still, so I came home. I thought I could earn some brownie points for coming home before curfew. Catching you two was just a bonus." Heather's smile became just slightly more mischievous. "So what time is Veronica's _curfew_?" She paused long enough for a confused look to form on Logan's face before she laughed and shook her head. "I'm just kidding. I'll let the two of you get back to whatever it is you're planning on doing while I hide in my room with my headphones on… and very _loud_ music playing."

"Funny," Logan commented, finally seeming to get his composure back. "We could all watch a movie," he suggested as he looked back and forth between Heather and Veronica. Veronica couldn't help but give him a tender smile, loving how comfortable he seemed to be about including her in his life with Heather too.

"Sounds good to me," Veronica replied as she looked toward Heather who nodded in agreement as well. "My toenails could use a refresh," she added with a coy smile, causing Logan to let out a surprised laugh.

"As you wish," Logan replied happily as he stood up and reached his hand out for hers. Heather had already started down the hall toward the media room, so Logan took the opportunity to pull Veronica in for a quick kiss. "I'll even let you pick the movie and I promise not to complain even if it is a chick flick."

"Even one staring Connor Larkin?" Veronica asked with a teasing grin on her face. She laughed as he grimaced slightly before reluctantly nodding in agreement.

"The things I'll do for love," Logan wistfully replied before leaning in to kiss her again. She couldn't help but smile against his lips and appreciate exactly how much he probably would do for love. Even with how terrible things had gone just two days before, being there with him at that moment was exactly what she'd been wanting for longer than she could remember. She let out a content sigh as their lips parted and then happily let him lead her down the hall to catch up with Heather.

Spending Sunday evening with both Logan and Heather had only further solidified Veronica's earlier feelings about how much family meant to her. If she'd ever had the slightest doubt about leaving San Francisco to come home, there was absolutely none left now. Even though Heather had teased them a little when she first came home, she didn't mention it again and seemed very comfortable having Veronica there. After the movie was over, Heather had that said she was heading up to bed and would see them both in the morning, as if there was no question at all that Veronica would be spending the night. She'd also slept better than the night before, although she still had at least one nightmare that startled her awake. As soon as she felt Logan's strong arms around her, she had been able to quickly drift back to sleep without causing him to wake up.

After a leisurely breakfast they decided to stop by the hospital to check on Doug again before they headed to the station. She was glad that he looked even better than the day before and was able to talk a little easier as well. He was still being restricted to very short visits, but Veronica could tell that he had really appreciated that they had stopped by to see him.

When they arrived at the station, Leo asked Veronica to join him in his office to discuss a few things. He'd already heard about Norris prematurely mentioning some of his plan to her at the hospital and apologized that he hadn't contacted her first. Leo let her know that he would still require her to be cleared for duty by one of the department approved psychologists, but as soon as she did that he'd be willing to let her start working on light duty again. And given that the security footage on the Donaldson case had come through that morning, he was hoping she could do it as soon as possible because he wanted to assign that to her since the department was pretty short-handed.

She was a little disappointed when she made it out of Leo's office to find that Logan and Norris had already had to go out for a call, but she didn't waste any time calling around to set up an appointment. She was thrilled that the third psychologist she called had just had a cancellation for that afternoon and was willing to see her. She popped her head into Leo's office to let him know she was able to get an appointment for that afternoon.

"Well, if you have a couple hours to kill, you might as well get to work watching that security footage," Leo commented with a sly grin.

Veronica chuckled and gave him an exaggerated salute before heading back out to her desk.

Veronica had gone through about thirty minutes of the footage when Logan and Norris returned. Logan didn't seem terribly surprised that she was still there and gave her a quick wink before he took a seat at his desk.

"He didn't waste much time putting you back to work, did he?" Logan asked with an amused tone. She smiled and shook her head. "Yeah, I didn't think he would," he added with an 'I told you so' look on his face.

"Don't you have some work to do?" Veronica teased back, trying to act disgruntled about his cockiness. But based on his smirk, she knew he completely saw through it.

She was able to get through about two hours of the footage before she had to leave for her appointment. Unfortunately she hadn't found anything of interest yet, but she'd started it fairly early the day they'd taken the yacht out to be sure she didn't miss anything. It was definitely a better angle than the other camera had provided them with.

Veronica was nervous about talking with the psychologist, but found the doctor to be quite easy to talk to. It took her a bit by surprise at how quickly she felt at ease with him. She was thankful that the other doctors she'd called first couldn't fit her in quickly and that she'd kept working her way down the list. Dr. Harman had worked with several other law enforcement officers who had been through very similar situations to hers, so he was able to easily connect with her and made her feel comfortable talking to him. At the end of the hour-long session, Veronica agreed to set up a few follow-up appointments. Dr. Harman felt confident that she could handle light casework, but he wanted to ensure that she didn't start struggling more emotionally with the shooting after some time had passed. It would still take her some time for her arm to completely heal, but at least she felt confident that she'd be able to keep doing some work at the sheriff's department, even if it was a less active role than she had before.

Logan and Norris were out on a call again when Veronica made it back to the office, so she gave Leo a quick update on her appointment and then went back to viewing the video footage. She finally reached the time when Benjamin had left the dock and headed for Catalina. Unfortunately she could only see Benjamin in the footage, but she was hopeful that, if the yacht came back the same way, she'd be able to see Dominick at the controls. She was counting on Logan's earlier comment that Bethany didn't know how to operate the yacht and that Dominick would be spotted on the return trip.

Leo had told Veronica that it was up to her how much time she felt like putting in for the next few days until he worked out a more permanent schedule for her. Of course once she started going through the footage, she wasn't planning on stopping until she'd made it past the window of when the yacht may have returned from Catalina. She also wasn't all that motivated to leave early since Logan's shift wasn't over until eight and she didn't have anything else planned for the day. She offered to go out and pick up dinner for the deputies that were working the evening shift. Several of them chipped in for pizza and she went to Cho's to pick up their order.

It was slow enough after she returned with the pizza for Logan and Norris to take a dinner break and eat with her. The three of them sat in the break room eating while Norris gave her a play-by-play of their last call. Evidently the confused old lady that they'd helped right after Veronica's return to Neptune wasn't the only frequent caller and the one who had made a call tonight seemed to have a huge crush on Logan. Veronica could tell how embarrassed Logan was the more Norris shared, and she couldn't help but tease him too. Veronica had initially been worried about things being awkward for the two of them at the station given their new relationship status, but she was relieved that so far no one had treated them any differently. She definitely felt Doug's absence though and wondered how hard that was for Logan and Norris. After they finished eating, Norris had headed out to his desk first, leaving Logan and Veronica alone for a bit.

"You doing okay with this... being back here so soon?" Logan asked with concern.

"Yeah," she replied with a reassuring smile. "Like you said, throwing yourself into work can definitely keep your mind off of other things."

Logan nodded in agreement before his expression changed and he leered playfully at her. "Maybe we should go make sure the evidence locker is all secure. I'm sure we can find things to do in there to preoccupy your thoughts as well."

"Careful, Deputy," she countered with an obviously fake admonishing look. "You wouldn't want me to have to report you to the sheriff, now would you?"

Logan smirked back and shook his head. "Only trying to be helpful, Deputy," he replied.

"Mm hmm. I'd nearly forgotten what a saint you could be," she continued on, exaggeration still evident in her tone.

"That's what everyone says," Logan chuckled as he gave her a quick wink and then headed out of the room in front of her.

Veronica went back to watching the security footage while Logan and Norris sat at their desks working on paperwork for the calls they'd gone out on that afternoon. Leo had left shortly before Veronica went to get the pizza, and while he didn't say she should go home too, he did encourage her not to stay too late. Veronica had forwarded the security footage through the nighttime hours since there wouldn't be anything she'd be able to see there. She started it back up again once she was able to make out the ocean view in the burgeoning light. Since she didn't trust the story that Bethany had given them, Veronica planned to watch from first light up through the time that Bethany had called and reported Benjamin missing. She played the recordings on fast speed since she could easily detect a large yacht on the screen and slowed it down when a vessel appeared on the water. She'd gotten excited when she spotted one, but it turned out to be a different yacht, that was similar to Benjamin's but on closer inspection was definitely not the same one. Nearly thirty minutes had passed since she'd been back at her desk after finishing dinner before she spotted another yacht on her screen.

"Well hello, Mr. Edwards," Veronica announced enthusiastically loud at her computer screen. Logan immediately spun around and gave her a questioning look. "Bingo," she said as she pointed gleefully at the screen. Logan got up and walked over behind Veronica and peered at the frozen image on her PC from over her shoulder.

"I knew it," Logan said triumphantly once he saw Dominick clearly piloting the yacht back from Catalina.

Veronica turned toward him and couldn't help the proud smile that spread across her face. "You were right, which I'm not at all surprised about," she commented as his gaze left the screen and met her eyes. Logan gave her a modest smile and shrugged. She narrowed her eyes slightly at him before she spoke again. "Come on, Logan. Norris and I were about to rule this an accidental drowning. If you hadn't told us that we were wrong, they would have gotten away with murder."

"Well we still don't know the full story yet either," Logan replied, obviously still unwilling to accept the praise. Veronica let out a small sigh, deciding not to get after him for brushing off just how instrumental he'd been in the case. She nodded in agreement instead.

"Well, we have proof now that he was on the yacht and that Bridget lied about him being there all night with her," Veronica summarized as she zoomed in a bit more on the frozen picture on her screen so she could print out a copy of it.

"This will certainly help strengthen a case against Dominick if his DNA is found on the fish priest. I really doubt they'll find any trace of Bethany's on it because I don't think she ever really fished with Benji. And now we can charge Bridget with being an accomplice since we have proof that she lied," Logan added thoughtfully. Veronica nodded in agreement. "Leo's going to be thrilled to see this in the morning. I'm sure he'll want to confer with the DA before we bring Dominick and Bridget in. I'm expecting a very exciting day tomorrow."

Veronica glanced over her should and gave him a coy smile. "And I'm expecting a very exciting night, _tonight_," she whispered loud enough for only Logan to hear. She chuckled as she watched a lecherous grin form on his face for a second before it vanished, replaced with a more appropriate smile.

Logan and Norris had the early shift on Tuesday, so Veronica rode in to the office with Logan. If she decided to leave before his shift was over, they'd agreed that she'd just take his car and come back later for him. With the break in Benjamin's case, though, she imagined that things could get pretty busy. As Logan had predicted, Leo was very pleased when he saw the footage that Veronica had found. He immediately headed out to discuss the case with the DA. While Leo was updating the DA and deciding their next steps, Veronica was working on determining Dominick and Bridget's whereabouts. Bethany was still being detained at the Neptune Memorial psych ward for observation. By the time Leo returned, Veronica had determined that Bridget was still keeping up appearances at least of being the concerned, doting sister and had taken a leave of absence from her job to deal with a personal family matter. She also found out that Dominick had returned to work this week.

When Leo came back from the DA's office, he had warrants to bring in both Dominick and Bridget. With Bethany's testimony and the preliminary evidence, even without the DNA test, the DA was willing to charge Dominick with Benjamin's murder. It didn't seem physically possible for it to have been Bethany given her very small size compared to Benjamin. She may have been involved with the murder as well, so they weren't dropping charges against her yet, but they were charging Dominick. They were charging Bridget with accessory charges since she had lied and provided Dominick with an alibi, which they now had proof was a lie.

Leo agreed to allow Veronica to go with two deputies to arrest Bridget, and sent Logan and Norris to arrest Dominick. They were hoping both would cooperate, but given Veronica's injured arm, Leo seemed reluctant to let her go with Logan and Norris. They were trying to coordinate the arrests so that neither one would be aware that the other one had been arrested to try to get unbiased statements from each of them. Bridget was extremely upset, but Veronica didn't think she seemed terribly surprised by the turn of events. Once the charges had been explained to her, she seemed to finally break down. She tearfully told them that she had lied to protect Dominick because she loved him and believed that he couldn't have had anything to do with Benjamin's disappearance. But when Bethany and Dominick had feared the worst about what may have happened to Benjamin, they were worried that Dominick might be a key suspect, so she'd agreed to go along with providing him an alibi. Veronica couldn't help but notice how Bridget's conviction to protect Dominick seemed to be quickly evaporating when she was facing charges herself. Bridget still maintained that Dominick and Bethany both had to be innocent, but after talking with her lawyer, she was willing to do whatever it took to reduce the charges against her.

Logan and Norris had returned with Dominick before they spoke with Bridget, so they were able to listen in to Leo and Veronica questioning her. Dominick had insisted on speaking to his lawyer before he'd answer any questions, so almost two hours passed after they'd brought him in before they were able to question him. He, of course, admitted to being on the yacht since they had proof of that, but stuck to his initial story that he'd been ill and that Bethany had woken him up in the morning when she discovered that Benjamin was missing. When Leo shared with Dominick that once they had the DNA report back on the murder weapon and found his DNA on it, that things would get much worse for both him and Bridget. Leo stressed how, given Bethany's petite stature, there was no way she'd be powerful enough to hit Benjamin hard enough to kill him, so Dominick would definitely be facing a murder charge and in Leo's opinion, they had a pretty strong case against him. Veronica could tell that Leo was partially pushing Dominick to see how he'd react because she wasn't sure Leo felt the case was currently that strong against him. Veronica could tell that the longer they questioned Dominick, the more anxious and worried he got. She assumed Leo could tell as well, which was why he probably kept pushing. The attorney who was representing Dominick, tried to keep him from incriminating himself, but Leo was good at pushing just the right buttons. Veronica glanced at Logan a few times during the interrogation since Leo allowed them both to be in the room. Her assessment was that Logan wasn't quite as impressed as she was since he'd been working with Leo for several years now. She couldn't help but wonder how many times the two of them had played 'good cop, bad cop' with suspects.

Veronica knew that getting a confession from Dominick would make the DA's job much easier, and she wasn't at all surprised that Leo would be doing as much as he could to make that happen. Of course there were lines they couldn't cross, but she figured Leo had been around long enough to know exactly how to push things as far as he possibly could. Leo had made a comment to Dominick that he'd better hope that if Bridget knew he was guilty that she wouldn't sell him out to get the charges against herself dropped in a deal with the DA. Leo insinuated that Bridget had seemed quite willing to do whatever she needed to for self-preservation. He also had casually slipped in how the DA was known for being quite lenient on cooperative suspects even though Leo himself didn't agree. Veronica could tell that it was just all part of Leo's strategy for wearing Dominick down, and that seemed to finally do the trick. Dominick's lack of confidence in Bridget was apparently starting to make him very nervous. Leo must have sensed it too, and after not much longer, he had Dominick blurting out that Bridget had made him kill Benjamin. Of course at that point the lawyer practically exploded and asked for time alone with his client given the new information.

"Well I'd say that was a successful break in our case," Veronica commented with a devious grin as they left the room to let Dominick talk to his lawyer again. Leo gave her a very pleased smile in return and nodded.

"You all did a great job on this one," Leo said looking at the three deputies. "Even against my better judgment in regards to how the two of you might work together," he continued, gesturing between Logan and Veronica. He quickly narrowed his eyes at the two of them though before he spoke again. "But don't think this means I'm crazy enough to _ever_ pair you up as official partners."

Veronica smirked at Logan, and he gave her a similar look in return. Official or not, Veronica was sure they'd continue to work on many more cases together. From the expression on Logan's face, she was pretty sure that he was thinking the exact same thing. Leo excused himself to call the DA to give him an update on where they were with the case, as the other three headed back to their desks.

It was about thirty minutes later when Dominick's lawyer said they were ready to talk again. Veronica was certain he had to scramble to figure out the best approach since Dominick's confession appeared to take him completely by surprise. The DA's office had sent over one of their ADA's to join them this time so it would expedite the process for them all. Dominick's devotion to Bridget seemed to be quickly diminishing as the reality of his situation sank in. In hopes of a more lenient sentencing, he seemed to be willing to testify that Bridget had manipulated him into doing it. When asked about what her motive would have been, Dominick revealed that Bridget had hated her sister for years and blamed her for their parent's death. He said she had planned to kill Bethany as well and was going to make it look like a suicide over her devastation from Benjamin dying. Veronica wasn't terribly surprised given the comments that Logan had made after looking at Bridget's Instagram account and checking into the situation with Bethany's will. _Greed and hate are still alive and well in Neptune._

When they were finished with Dominick, the three deputies returned to their desks again while Leo went into his office to talk more with the ADA. Right as they all sat down, the department phone line rang, and Logan was the first to answer it. Veronica could hear him affirming information as he took notes. When he hung up the phone, he turned toward Veronica and Norris.

"Just got a call about a suspicious death," he shared with the two of them. "Want to join me?" he asked Veronica as he stood up and grabbed his coat. "I'm sure Norris and Leo can handle things here until we get back." Norris chuckled and nodded in agreement, obviously amused at Logan already pushing the limit of the two of them working together despite Leo's earlier comments on the matter.

"Suspicious death, huh?" Veronica asked, her curiosity peaked as she also stood up from her desk. "Although, this _is_ Neptune. Doesn't really seem like there are many other types here, are there?"

Logan gave her a knowing smile as he nodded and started to lead the way out to the parking lot. As they reached the station door, he opened it and made a flourishing gesture with his hand for her to walk through first. "After you, _partner_," he said with amusement. It was clear to tell from his expression and tone that he still loved defying authority after all this time, even if he was a sheriff's deputy now. While Veronica never imagined they'd end up anything like this, sometimes life is even better than your wildest dreams.


End file.
